Global Lehigh Strategic Initiatives (without descriptions)
Integrated assessment of agricultural systems (SEAMLESS)
1. Integrated assessment of agricultural systems;
On integrated science and science integration
Martin van Ittersum
Frank Ewert, Thomas Heckelei, Floor Brouwer, Johanna Alkan Olsson, Erling Andersen,
Jan Erik Wien, Jacques Wery
Acknowledgement: all SEAMLESS colleagues
5. Common challenges for research …
Multi-dimensional analysis
Multi-scale analysis
Global
Continental
Economic
Environmental
Natural
National
Institutional
Regional
Social
Farm
Field
6. What does research have at hand to analyse?
Methods and databases targeted at specific processes or scales:
Market
Farming systems
Cropping systems
……………
which are …..
developed for a specific purpose
often poorly re-used
difficult to link for integrated studies
not readily used for integrated assessment of indicators
Fragmentation, gaps, lack of integration!
7. Aims of SEAMLESS project
Overcoming fragmentation in research models and data in Europe for
integrated assessment of agricultural systems
Better informed impact assessment of new agricultural and
environmental policies
To advance:
Consistent micro-macro analysis
Consistent economic, environmental, social and institutional analysis
Re-use of research tools for a range of issues
15. Baseline versus WTO policy scenario
Export subsidies EU set to zero
Agricultural tariff reductions WTO proposal (according to December
6th 2008 agricultural modalities)
with –
withou
t
policy to be assessed
baseline
2013
2003
effect of autonomous developments
=
impact
policy
16. Model chain
Data of NUTS-2
and EU
CAPRI
EXPAMOD
Data of farms
in 13 regions
(out of 300
regions in EU)
FSSIM
APES
Agricultural sector
model - EU
NUTS-2 and EU
indicators
Extrapolate farm to EU
Bio-economic farm
model
Farm and regional
indicators
Agricultural production & externalities
18. WTO – change in agricultural income (%)
Income declines in all
EU27 regions;
Losses vary between
1 and 16%; average
decline 5%
Marcel Adenäuer and Marijke Kuiper
19. Decrease in average farm income by region (%)
Marcel Adenäuer and Marijke Kuiper
20. Decrease in average farm income by farm type (%)
Marcel Adenäuer and Marijke Kuiper
21. WTO – change in nitrate leaching (%)
Farm types in Midi Pyrenees
Arable-cereal
W vs Baseline
TO
-2 %
+6%
Maize area
↓
↑
Peas area
↓
↓
Rape area
↓
↑
Soya area
↑
↑
Sunflower area
-1.0
W vs Baseline
TO
Nitrate leaching
-2.0
Arable-other
0
↓
-0.0
Hatem Belhouchette and Kamel Louhichi
23. Scales and Dimensions of SD
Globe
Globe
GTAP
Earth System
Earth System
Country/
Country/
Continent
Continent
CAPRI
LABOUR
EXPAMOD
Region
Region
Landscape
Landscape
Structural
change
Landscape
Evaluation
SLE
Farm
Farm
FSSIM-AM
Field
Field
PICA
FSSIM-MP
APES
Indicator Framework
Biophysical
Biophysical
Bio-Economic
Bio-Economic
Social/
Social/
Institutional
Institutional
24. Scales and Dimensions of SD
Globe
Globe
GTAP
Earth System
Earth System
Country/
Country/
Continent
Continent
CAPRI
LABOUR
EXPAMOD
Region
Region
Landscape
Landscape
Structural
change
Landscape
Evaluation
SLE
Farm
Farm
FSSIM-AM
Field
Field
PICA
APES
Biophysical
Biophysical
FSSIM-MP
Bio-Economic
Bio-Economic
Social/
Social/
Institutional
Institutional
25. Simulating cropping systems
Weather
Outputs:
Soil water
Agro-forestry
1. Yields
2. Externalities:
Simulation
engine
C-Nitrogen
Grasses
Agricultural
management
Vineyard/
orchard
APES
Dynamic Cropping System model
Nitrogen
-
Crops
-
Pesticides
-
Erosion
-
Pesticides
GHGs
27. Agricultural sector: CAPRI (EU)
programming model
Supply250 Regional
optimisation
models
Combination of
and
multi commodity model
Quantities
Prices
University of Bonn
Markets Multi-commodity
spatial market model
with 18 regional
aggregates
and all EU MS
28. Micro-macro analysis: Upscaling farm type - market
FSSIM
Price
Supply response to response
price and policy
changes on Farm
level
EXPAMOD
Extrapolation to
regional supply
elasticities and
non- sample
regions
Aggregation weights
Structural
change
CAPRI
Regional
supply
elasticities
Calibration of
regional supply
models to this
supply response
Scenario analysis
based on new
supply response
Price changes
33. An example of mapping farm types to AEnZs
Density of low-intensity
farms in agri-environmental
zones
34. Linking models, data and indicators
Methodological linkage: e.g.
scaling in time and space
Semantic linkage: ontology
Technical linkage: OpenMI
Connecting people!
35. Scales and Dimensions of SD
Globe
Globe
GTAP
Earth System
Earth System
Country/
Country/
Continent
Continent
CAPRI
LABOUR
EXPAMOD
Region
Region
Landscape
Landscape
Structural
change
Landscape
Evaluation
SLE
Farm
Farm
FSSIM-AM
Field
Field
PICA
APES
Biophysical
Biophysical
FSSIM-MP
Bio-Economic
Bio-Economic
Social/
Social/
Institutional
Institutional
40. On integrated science
SEAMLESS: one approach to Integrated Assessment
Benefits:
allows to structure the development of IA tools in components
using advances of science focusing on parts of the system
a degree of flexibility for range of applications
Limitations for specific problems:
details of some components not always needed
does ‘generic’ approach allow adequate system representation:
• relevant feedback mechanisms and interactions captured?
41. On integrated science
High data demand – three routes:
statistical sampling (micro-macro upscaling:
Bezlepkina et al.)
science-based rules to ‘generate’ crucial but missing
data (agro-management data: Oomen et al.)
European data (soils, weather, farm: Andersen et al.)
Questions:
trade-off between integration and flexibility?
scaling methods to be further tested
forecasting farm responses
integration of (agro-)ecosystems services
43. Beyond the project
SEAMLESS Association
Overcoming fragmentation
Maintenance, extension and
dissemination
Continue the network role
Open source
New research projects
Science
Testing and application
• High(er) price scenario
44. The use of computerized tools in IA
Problem solving
stages
Contextualisation
Network building
Model types
Sterk, Van Ittersum and Leeuwis, 2009
Role of models
Matching
process:
Impact of policies beyond scale at which implemented
Impact of policies beyond targeted domain
Average change in market prices of product groups with the WTO proposal (% change to baseline). Source: SEAMCAP.
Prices in the EU decline more than in the rest of the world with meat experiencing the most notable drop. Within the average for meat the strongest decline (-12 %) is observed for beef. The major price decreases for meat area however may not materialize due to the use of sensitive products by the EU. Denominating meat tariff lines as sensitive would greatly limit the tariff reductions although a quota would need to be opened to compensate third countries for their limited increase in market access.
Regional change in agricultural income with the WTO proposal (% change to baseline). Source: SEAMCAP
Average farm income changes by region with the WTO scenario (% change to baseline, in brackets number of farm type models per region). Source: FSSIM
It shows the observed and predicted development of farm numbers of 2 production orientation classes (arable and dairy farms) in 2 size classes (M for medium and L for large farms). In the observation period (1990-2003) one can see that the number of medium sized dairy farms decreases drastically, whereas the number of large dairy farms increases. The number of medium and large arable farms slightly increases until and starts to decrease after 2000. Decreasing farm numbers are predicted for medium dairy farms and medium and large arable farms. The number of large dairy farms is predicted to further increase, although at a lower pace.
1. The annual rates of farm number decrease had already been very large during the observation period (1990-2003) and these rates are predicted to continue into the future. This counts for the red regions in France, Spain, Portugal and Germany.
2. Compared to other European countries, structural change in terms of decreasing farm numbers started late (in 1997 or later) in the UK and in Italy, but therefore the rate of change was very fast. These highly negative growth rates of the last observation years are predicted to continue into the future.
In fact, the question why even similar (in terms of farm structure) European regions react so differently is part of the ongoing research for my thesis. I will let you know if I find a better explanation (in terms of causing factors) within the next two weeks.
The map on the left shows the predicted annual rates of change for total farm numbers (aggregated over all farm types). For the regions in red high farm number losses are predicted, yellow means moderate losses, and for the green regions no change or even small positive growth rates are expected.
- The map on the right serves as regional comparison of the mobility of farms across farm types. In red regions farms are likely to change the farm types, in yellow regions a moderate number of farms changes the farm type, and in green regions farms are not very likely to change their farm type.
Meta-modelling
Baysian networks
Etc.
allows to structure the development of IA tools in relatively independent components
using advances of science focusing on parts of the system
a degree of flexibility for range of applications
Component-based approach allows structuring the workforce and international collaboration
The teams developing components can work relatively independent and may consist of specialists with sufficient integrative skills
A team of adequate size needs to have the necessary conceptual and methodological skills for integration and linkage of components
Linkage of components puts high demand on state-of-the-art information technology (IT) which is not present in all teams
Experience of SEAMLESS showed the crucial importance of a team with unprecedented interdisciplinary skills and willing to invest in IT
There is a third dimension: Integrative scientists, IT specialists and Collaboration amongst 30 teams