Surendra N. Kulshreshtha

University of Saskatchewan | U of S · Agricultural and Resource Economics

The efficient and sustainable use of water has become a necessity in regions prone to drought and water scarcity. One such region is the Fars province of Iran, where farmers often face uncertainties in irrigation water supply due to frequent droughts and declining groundwater levels. This study employed a quantitative research methodology, utilizin...

Beneficial water management practices (BWMPs) have been identified to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in eastern Canada by retrofitting conventional tile drainage with controlled drainage and sub-irrigation. Implementing these practices may also yield additional benefits for farmers and society besides GHG emissions mitigation. This study emp...

Water table management through controlled tile drainage and subsurface irrigation (CDSI), retrofitting to conventional tile drainage, has been developed to abate the environmental impacts of irrigation and drainage meanwhile supporting agroecosystems and crop productivity. Since the environmental profile of new technologies is a prerequisite to und...

This study assesses the likely economic impact of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) on Saskatchewan’s (a Canadian province) economy in 2030 by building a subnational computable general equilibrium (CGE) model. The approach was based on splitting Canada into two regions: Saskatchewan and the Rest of Ca...

Water availability for crop production in many parts of the world, including Eastern Canada, is important, including availability to the root zone of the crops. Water table management is suggested to overcome these issues, if adopted by producers. But such adoption decisions often depend on the financial returns to producers. In this study, financi...

This paper seeks to calibrate the dynamic policy-induced adoption/diffusion of an agri-environmental beneficial technology. The paper develops an agent-based model to integrate the adoption problem into a complex farmer adoption decision-making system involving different components (e.g., GIS environment, agents, network, production and adoption, p...

Shelterbelts are rows of trees planted around farmyards and field for protection against soil erosion, promotion of biodiversity and wildlife habitat. Additionally, to carbon sequestration through growth in tree biomass and carbon sinks in agricultural soil. In recent years, removal of shelterbelts has become more common, as crop land is preferred...

At a global scale, Canada is the second largest cranberry producer, with Quebec being the largest producing region within Canada. Efficient water use in agricultural production has long been a topic of outmost importance to agricultural producers, and governing bodies. The immediacy of climate change effects sped up the need to find solutions that...

Climate change challenges agricultural production in Eastern Canada by affecting water resource availability. Farmers' adoption of improved water management practices and technologies can play an important part in the region's climate change adaptation strategy. To facilitate the diffusion of agricultural beneficial management practices (BMPs), it...

Considerable advancements are being made in containerized agricultural systems in the northern Canada. These systems are proving successful at overcoming the environmental constraints associated with cold climate food production and hold great promise for remote communities that suffer from high rates of food insecurity. However, if new technologie...

Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) models are very popular for analyzing a wide range of policy issues. CGE applications vary from estimating the welfare impact of tax reform and alternative energy policies to the effect of foreign trade reforms, labour markets and employment. CGE models are commonly developed at the country level; however, modif...

Water table management is a recommended practice to maintain crop production in Eastern Canada. Grain corn is highly susceptible under climate change and adoption of better management practices is almost a necessity. Use of controlled drainage with sub-irrigation is one of the practices recommended. A major question is whether farmers would adopt t...

Resource limitations in the agricultural sector for achieving food production is one of the most critical challenges for planners and policymakers in many countries including Iran. Optimal use of available resources is one of the ways to overcome these limitations. This study aims to investigate the factors affecting the technical efficiency of res...

Water is considered as the most important component, but a limiting input, for agricultural production in Iran. In the context of water resources management, due to the limited availability of water and high cost of supplying it to the users, improvement of water use productivity has been regarded as one of the most appropriate approaches to manage...

Water markets in developing countries are difficult to implement due to social, environmental, and technical restrictions. However, the primary concern in irrigation districts with a lack of a functioning market mechanism is the economically efficient allocation of water. In this light, the objective of this study is the development of an Economic-...

Shelterbelt agroforestry systems inventory is challenging given their narrow linear feature and extensive distribution. The objective of this study was to evaluate the capability of Sentinel-2A Multispectral Instrument (MSI) and Sentinel-1B Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery in (i) delineating shelterbelt tree rows on managed agricultural land...

This study assesses the likely economic impact of Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) on Canada's economy in 2030. The analysis was accomplished by building a static Computable General Equilibrium (CGE). And running three simulation scenarios: (i) Baseline scenario; the s...

In the beginning of the 20th century, due to semi-arid climate conditions, planting trees was recommended to protect buildings, crops and animals from wind and extreme temperatures. Over a period of time, technology of production has changed and landowners see little private benefits from maintaining shelterbelts. A growing trend of shelterbelt rem...

The research presented in this paper stems from a collaboration between researchers in the Benin Republic, Nigeria and Canada who are examining the opportunities to enhance the sustainable production of under-utilized indigenous vegetables through the micro-dosage of synthetic fertilizer. Because micro-dosing is a labour intensive technology, and i...

Beef production plays a vital role in the economy of western Canada; however, in the wake of global warming as a result of increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the industry has come under some scrutiny. Although there has been encouraging scientific findings on mitigation strategies applicable to beef operations, there is a lack of economic a...

In this study, both the amount and value of greenhouse gas emissions from Iranian crop production are estimated. Both nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide emissions were included for the crop year 2011/12. Results showed that total emissions of nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide were, respectively, 25.471 and 777.714 tonnes per annum. Converted in value...

Growing energy crops such as perennial grasses and trees on marginal land offers the possibility of reducing the competition with food crops for land resources. Identifying the productivity, economic feasibility and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions impact is the premise of our study on using marginal land for bioenergy production in Canada. The area...

As the climate changes, the effects of agriculture on the environment may change. In the future, an increasing frequency of climate extremes, such as droughts, heat waves, and excess moisture, is expected. Past research on the interaction between environment and resources has focused on climate change effects on various sectors, including agricultu...

The role of shelterbelts within prairie agriculture is changing. In the past, shelterbelts have been promoted and adopted for soil stabilization and their ability to protect farmsteads and livestock from harsh prairie climates. In today’s agricultural landscape, advances in production technology accompanied with an increase in farm size, and change...

The impacts of climate change as well as its variability were assessed by including projected inter-annual climate variabilities and their economic impacts on mixed-farm settings. A whole farm simulation model was developed to integrate models of beef cattle and crop production with models of economic decisions. The results indicated that the Canad...

Shelterbelts sequester and store atmospheric carbon as a direct result of the growth of trees and thus present an opportunity for climate change mitigation. The objectives of this paper were to quantify the growth characteristics and to estimate the carbon stocks of six common shelterbelt species in Saskatchewan: hybrid poplar, Manitoba maple, Scot...

Forages are an important part of crop rotations in many agricultural systems. In Manitoba, Canada, almost 40% of the 7 million ha agricultural area is devoted to forage crops and pastures. Use of legume forages to reduce fertilizer cost to producers can improve soil quality and productivity and may provide more options for diversification of the ag...

Various agricultural techniques have been developed as components of food security interventions, but their effectiveness in addressing food insecurity in part depends upon the effectiveness of these techniques in fulfilling farmers’ objectives. This paper presents the results of research that examined the constraints that limit the adoption of mic...

Soil degradation and low crop productivity negatively affect the food security of smallholder farmers in West Africa. Various agricultural techniques have been developed as components of food security interventions, but their effectiveness in addressing food insecurity in part depends upon farmers’ abilities to adopt these techniques. In this paper...

With the last round of negotiations under the Paris Conference of the Parties (COP) now completed, every country would be searching for avenues to meet the targets agreed upon in the COP. Among various options, biofuel development has historically been a preferred option in various countries and Canada (including Saskatchewan) is no exception to it...

For more than a century, planted shelterbelts in Saskatchewan, Canada have protected farmyards from the elements, decreased soil erosion, sequestered atmospheric carbon, as well as provided many other ecological functions. It is estimated that there are >60,000 km of planted shelterbelts throughout the province, and considerably more in all of the...

Economic impact of climate extremes on beef operation is expected to be significant due to its direct impact on feed production. Impact of such events on farm management and longer term farm financial situation is relatively unstudied in the Canadian Prairie. This study compared three alternative beef herd management strategies in dealing with clim...

Water is being recognized as an increasingly valuable natural resource, requiring evermore complex and challenging decision-making. Forecasts under probable scenarios have the potential to inform development of comprehensive water management strategies. This study was conducted to determine the current and future community level (domestic plus muni...

Purpose – This paper aims to explore the impact of climate change on yields and yield variances in major rainfed crops and measure possible changes in yields under projected climate changes in different agro-climatic zones of Tamil Nadu, India. Although many empirical studies report the influence of climate change on crop yield, only few address th...

Agriculture systems represent complex combination of bio-physical component and economic decisions. Bio-economic farm modeling approach has been widely used to simulate agriculture systems for assessing economic impacts and scenario analysis. This study used a Mixed Farm Model for the economic impact assessment of Climate Change and Extremes (MFM-C...

Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry includes research from selected international authors and institutions that consider land use management to be an important aspect in the context of climate change and development. Our team of editors and authors hope to add a valuable contribution to the literature to address global climate change in relation...

Indiscriminate use of ecological services provided by the natural environmental systems for socioeconomic and consumptive activities has led to various kinds of environmental and resource degradation. Included among these anthropogenic activities are those related to agricultural production. Conventional (intensive) tillage is one such group of act...

As climate is an uncontrollable yet essential input in the agriculture industry, the impact of climate change may have on crop production in Saskatchewan is of importance. The main objective of this study is to investigate how farmers would adapt to climate change by switching their crop mix under future climate change scenarios. A fractional multi...

Agricultural Management for Climate Change includes work from various international institutions that consider agricultural management to address climatic changes and extremes. Our team of editors and authors hope to add a valuable contribution to address global climate change in relation to agricultural ecosystems in vulnerable locations. For this...

This chapter reviews past efforts by the government of Canada to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agriculture. Directly, the agriculture industry contributes roughly 10% to the total GHG emissions of Canada, but together with indirect sectors, its contribution may be as high as 14% of the total. Under the UNFCCC, pursuant to the Copenhage...

Irrigation development in semi-arid regions provides benefits for producers as well as many others who reside in the region. Although a common perception exists that irrigation benefits only irrigation producers, a study carried out by Paterson Earth and Water Consulting Ltd showed that irrigation positively impacts many more sectors of the Alberta...

This paper has examined the impact of climate variability on crop yields and variance thereof in different agro-climatic zones of Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The results indicate that yields of paddy, maize, cotton and sugarcane benefit from the increase in temperature, while yield of banana benefits from the variation in temperature. The precipita...

Climate change through altering the hydrologic regime would affect water supply in various parts of the world. Dry regions of Canada, such as the semi-arid Prairies, would be affected harder under the project climate change scenarios. This chapter reviews water availability and demand for the province of Saskatchewan, located in the semi-arid regio...

The objective of this study was to analyze the relationship between underground water extraction (depletion) and development of pressurized irrigation using data for 30 provinces in Iran. A spatial regression was used to study the relationship between variables for data in 2010.Results show that pressurized irrigation, long-run rainfall, spatial de...

Climate change is highly relevant in any forecast of water demand in the future. There is enough scientific evidence now that makes climate change serious and compelling. In this study, two major effects of climate change for agriculture were included: (1) change in average temperature (and resulting higher evapotranspiration); (2) increased freque...

ABSTRACT Unpredictable changes in the climate can have a significant impact on crop yield in India in general and in particular in the climate vulnerable state of Tamil Nadu. 1bis study evaluates how farmers in the Sothern Zone of Tamil Nadu adapt crop change as a technique to cope with uncertainty in crop yield. Three districts in the Sothern Zone...

This study was conducted to evaluate the economic sustainability of single enterprise farming operations when compared to integrated operations. The single operations consisted of either a hog only production system, a forage-based production system or beef cattle on pasture and the integrated operations were either a hog–forage or hog–beef product...

The Government of Canada’s farm assistance programs have affected >80 % of Canada’s agricultural land base. One important program in the Prairie Provinces was the prairie shelterbelt program (PSP). A significant aspect of the PSP was shelterbelt tree planting to protect farmyard infrastructure and reduce soil erosion. The main goal of this paper wa...

Shelterbelts are a type of agroforestry commonly used in Saskatchewan agricultural lands to protect against frequent dust storms since the settlements started in the province (little over 100 years). Shelterbelts provide a multitude of benefits to farms and to the public at large, and maintain a sustainable use of the land resources for future gene...

Agricultural activities have many effects on the environment, including effects on soil and air quality, water quality and quantity, contamination, and wildlife habitat. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada has calculated a set of science-based agri-environmental indicators (AEIs) to provide information on environmental conditions in agriculture and th...

Inputs, including herbicides, used in crop production may create negative environmental impacts. One solution to minimize these adverse effects is the adoption of integrated weed management (IWM) with the intention of reducing herbicide use. This study, conducted in 2010, estimates the willingness of farmers to pay for the adoption of more effectiv...

Canada is a vast country and faces different types of weather and climatic patterns. As a result, Canadian agriculture is a spatially heterogeneous industry and therefore, would face differing impacts of climate change in different regions. Depending on the region of study, although, such impacts would vary with different climate characteristics, d...

The viability of Canadian biofuel industries will depend on farm energy consumption rates and the CO2 emissions from fossil fuel use for feedstock crops. The types of biofuels that are under development in Canada include biodiesel, grain ethanol, cellulosic ethanol and biomass. Each of these fuels relies on a distinct class of feedstock crops and i...

The introduction of a pulse crop into a cereal production rotation has been widely recognized for the rotational benefits resulting from nitrogen fixation and crop diversification. Pulses are the dry, edible seeds of pod-bearing plants in the legume family, such as dry pea and lentil. Both dry pea and lentil are widely grown across Western Canada a...

Extreme climate events such as droughts generally result in bio-physical impacts that often translate into socio-economic impacts. Realization of the severity of an extreme event such as a drought, varies with the individual community because vulnerability is dependent upon the sensitivity of various economic activities in the region plus the depen...

Water use technical efficiency (WUTE) and three definitions of water use economic efficiency (WUEE) were estimated for the four river sub-basins that encompass the 13 irrigation districts in Southern Alberta over a 5-year period: 2004-08. The average level of WUTE varied from 3.5 to 6.2 Mt dam(-3). The gross economic value of crop production varied...

Biomass is an important source of renewable energy that has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Some food crops, such as corn, can be used as feedstock for bioenergy production. Under limited cultivated land resources, this may lead to increased food prices due to resource competition between food and fuel. Some energy crops, such as...

Grasslands in Manitoba occupy 2.4 million ha and provide goods and services (G & S) that have direct and indirect monetary value. The objectives of this study were to a) provide a framework for comparing the value of G & S from grasslands by utilizing direct and indirect assessment, b) assess the value of Manitoba grasslands and the variables influ...

Natural hazards are a common occurrence on the semi-arid prairies, both in terms of extreme dryness (droughts), and extreme moisture (floods). Although when such events occur, they generate devastating impacts on the economic and social system of any community, when that community happens to be a First Nations community, these challenges are furthe...

The biobased economy can be to the 21st century what the fossil-based economy was to the 20th century. Agriculture has the potential to be central to this economy, providing source materials for commodity items such as liquid fuels and value-added products (chemicals and materials). At the same time, agriculture will continue to provide food and fe...

Estimates of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from Canada's four main livestock industries were integrated with the Canadian Economic and Emissions Model for Agriculture (CEEMA) which operates at the census district level. The livestock crop complex (LCC), which defines the crop area required to feed Canada's livestock, was disaggregated from provinc...

This study describes the results of a survey carried out in Mashhad, Iran. The survey was designed using choice-modeling techniques and intended to discover what valuation Mashhad residents placed on air pollution and the abatement of air pollution. The survey results were analyzed using a nested logit (NL) model. This analysis then allowed a consi...

Agricultural production systems produce several environmental impacts, including emissions of greenhouse gases. The objective of this paper is to investigate differences in greenhouse gas emissions from various crops grown under dryland production system in various regions of Canada. Results indicate that the emissions intensity varies depending up...

Changing agriculture current production practices (called conventional production