Tag: Land Use
Losing Aguacate: What If Water Costs Kill Avocado Farming in San Diego County?
San Diego County is categorized as urban, yet it was one of only three counties in the United States with over 5,000 farm operations in 2017. While continuing to expand its urban area, the county lost farmland at the rate of 3.8% every year between 2002 and 2017. By several measures, avocado production is the county's most important crop, and avocado groves account for about 30% of all crops planted there. Avocado acreage is also declining rapidly in the county, at about 3% each year. To understand
Forest cover change and land tenure change in Mexico’s avocado region: Is community forestry related to reduced deforestation for high value crops?
Forest cover change in highland pine-oak forests of Michoacan, Mexico is due to a process of conversion of natural forests to avocado orchards. Privately-owned avocado orchards are found on land that was common forest before the 1992 Reform of the Mexican Constitution. We ask how forest cover change was facilitated by policy changes that affected land tenure rules and existing community forestry programs. We use a comparative case study of four communities, an analysis of forest cover change, and
Estimating the Water and Carbon Footprints of Growing Avocados in the Munich Metropolitan Region Using Waste Heat as a Water-Energy-Food Nexus Potential
Avocados, which have been labeled a superfood and are very popular around the world, are often grown in areas with water scarcity and have long-distance transports to their end consumer. Water and carbon footprints could be reduced by using greenhouse farming, waste heat and rainwater. This study aims to determine whether avocados and other exotic fruits could be locally or regionally grown in greenhouse systems in Bavaria heated using waste heat and examines whether this approach decreases the resulting
Effects of converting forest to avocado orchards on topsoil properties in the trans-Mexican volcanic system, Mexico
In the present work, land cover and land use changes between 2003 and 2008 were assessed in the Cupatitzio River sub-basin located in the Trans-Mexican Volcanic System and Balsas Depression in Mexico. The effects of land cover conversion from temperate forest to avocado orchards on soil properties were determined. Land cover and land use databases were built for the years 1975, 2003, and 2008 using available cartographic information and interpretation of panchromatic SPOT images for the year 2008.
Optimal Planning for Sustainable Production of Avocado in Mexico
The global avocado market has increased significantly in recent years. The state of Michoacán in Mexico is one of the largest producers of avocado in the world. The ideal climatic conditions and favorable yields have spurred an interest in growing new orchards for enhancing avocado production. Such growth has a major impact on the environment due to the land use change and the substantial use of fresh water. Therefore, there is a need for an optimal strategic planning for the avocado production
Environmental and social consequences of the increase in the demand for 'superfoods' world-wide
The search for healthy diets has led to a surge in the demand for functional foods or 'superfoods', which have now become popular among the middle- and high-income fractions of the society in developed regions of the world. 'Superfoods' are predominantly consumed far from their centres of origin and out of their cultural context with different environmental and social effects. Here, we present a series of case studies to provide an overview of the different environmental impacts driven by superfood