Bio-economic models can be used to assess the impact of policy and environmental measures through economic and environmental indicators. Focusing on agricultural systems, farmers' decisions in terms of cropping systems and the associated crop management at field scale are essential in such...

To sustain food production in the future, the agricultural sector must adapt to climate change through agronomic means. In the Midi-Pyrénées (south-western France), maize is the main irrigated crop, and increasing pressure on water resources challenges the appropriateness of this crop in the...

To meet sustainability challenges, regional water management and planning require approaches that assess the land-use visions of various stakeholders using their own evaluation criteria. Models and information systems are keystones in such integrated assessment activities. SPACSS (the SPAtial...

Water is a vital need for humans and a critical resource for the maintenance of social–ecological systems. Against the backdrop of global environmental and societal changes, water scarcity looms large in many parts of the world. This uncertainty regarding the future notwithstanding, not until...

Multifunctionality of Agriculture (MFA) is a concept that supports the recognition of complex interdependencies between different resources, production processes and outputs of agricultural land use. Political decision making within a sustainable development frame requires extensive information...

Research aiming to reduce the vulnerability of agricultural systems to climate variability and change requires practical appraisal of their climatic exposure. We propose a method to map local climatic conditions over a given period to a set of productivity and management-related indicators that...

Farm size in industrialized countries grew significantly over the second half of the twentieth century. Using several econometric models, this article examines factors that influence farm size, the probability of an increase in farm size, and the intensity of farm growth. We find that farm...