Developing Circular Agricultural Production Systems

This collection summarises the wealth of research on the ways of achieving circular agricultural production systems through using minimal inputs, closing nutrient loops, reducing emissions and reusing and valorising agricultural wastes.

“The book contains valuable chapters that provide a useful introduction to how circular economy concepts apply to agricultural systems, supplemented with more in-depth descriptions and analyses of important technologies which may help moving towards improved circularity.” (Book Review Published in the Journal of Circular Economy – Dr A. G. T. Schut and Dr W. J. Vonk, Wageningen University, The Netherlands)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, to producing biogas from livestock manure and manufacturing bio-plastics from agricultural waste.