Developing circular agricultural production systems: (Burleigh Dodds Series in Agricultural Science)

With the agricultural sector pledging to improve its sustainability, there is an urgent need to move away from linear food production models which rely on significant raw material inputs and generate large amounts of residual waste. Developing circular agricultural production systems reviews the emergence of circular agriculture as an approach to improving the sustainability of the agricultural sector. The book addresses recent advances in understanding and developing closed-loop systems to optimise crop nutrient cycles and resource use, as well as ways agricultural wastes can be recycled back into agricultural production or used as feedstock to produce a range of bio-based materials. With its comprehensive coverage, the book showcases how to develop circular agricultural production systems, from using crop residues as livestock feed and developing new bio-based fertilizers, to producing biogas from livestock manure and manufacturing bio-plastics from agricultural waste. With its distinguished editor and international array of expert authors, Developing circular agricultural production systems will be a standard reference for academic researchers involved in the agricultural and environmental sciences, as well as government and private sector agencies supporting sustainable agriculture and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Table of Contents:
Part 1: Optimising inputs 1. Designing circular, closed-loop agricultural systems: key principles and challenges: Rolf Meyer, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany 2. Understanding and developing closed-loop nutrient cycles in crop production: Theun Vellinga, Wageningen University, The Netherlands 3. Closed-loop precision farming technologies to optimise resource use: Thomas Bartzanas, Agricultural University of Athens, Greece 4. Closed-loop combined crop-livestock farming systems: Friedhelm Taube, Kiel University, Germany 5. Developing closed-loop dairy farms: Rodolfo Garcia-Flores, CSIRO, Australia 6. Aquaponics as a closed loop agricultural system: Alberto Pardossi, University of Pisa, Italy Part 2: Re-using agricultural and other wastes 7. Using crop residues/by-products as livestock feed in a circular economy: Andre Brito, University of New Hampshire, USA 8. Optimising livestock manure as a biofertiliser and bioenergy source: Victor Riau, GIRO-IRTA, Spain 9. Optimising slurry management: Daniel Fangueiro, ISA, Portugal 10. New bio-based fertilisers from organic waste upcycling and their application in agriculture: Lars Stoumann Jensen, University of Copenhagen, Denmark 11. Safety/quality issues in using biofertilisers: April Leytem, USDA-ARS, USA Part 3: Co-products 12. Producing biogas from livestock manure and agricultural residues: Rita Fragoso, University of Lisbon, Portugal 13. Multi-feedstock biorefineries for converting agricultural wastes into co-products: Butch Bataller, University of the Philippines Los Banos, The Philippines 14. Developing bioplastics/bio-packaging from agricultural wastes: Marianna Villano, University of Rome, Italy 15. Developing polyphenols from agricultural wastes: Miguel Prieto, University of Vigo, Spain

About the Author :
Dr Barbara Amon is an Associate Professor for Environmental Engineering and Agricultural Engineering at the University of Zielona Góra, Poland, and a Senior Research Scientist and Coordinator of the Research Programme "Precision farming in crop and livestock production" at the Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy (ATB) in Potsdam, Germany. In addition to her research, she sits on many panels looking at sustainable agriculture, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), European Innovation Partnership-AGRI and the FAO LEAP Partnership. She is also the Co-Chair of the Agriculture and Nature Panel as part of the UNECE Task Force on Emission Inventories and Projections and of the Expert Panel on Mitigation of Agricultural Nitrogen under the UNECE Task Force on Reactive Nitrogen.