Global agriculture R&D and the changing aid architecture

Agriculture research knowledge and technology that transcends national borders has played a crucial role in enhancing developing country productivity growth over the past 50 years. The demand for international agriculture research (IAR) continues to be strong today even while becoming increasingly differentiated by the stage of development that a particular country or region is in. The supply of IAR to developing country research programs is, however, becoming increasingly constrained by: variable donor support; a push toward downstream product adaptation and dissemination activities relative to innovation and product development; and a lack of clear links between international public good research and national agriculture development priorities. Country‐level donor coordination and alignment mechanisms, specified in the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, do not explicitly account for the role of IAR in the development process. While the movement toward national ownership of its development agenda and donor alignment around it is unquestionably good, an unintended consequence could be a break in the R&D pipeline that supplies public good research and technologies for enhancing developing country agriculture productivity growth. The article presents options for rebuilding synergies between international public good research and national agriculture development priorities.     

Tracing the Pathways from Research to Innovation: Evidence from Case Studies

The complex process through which agricultural research stimulates innovation and achieves policy goals has commonly been treated as a ‘black box’ in the scientific literature. Statistical correlations between measured expenditure and impacts, where satisfactorily established, have mostly led to details of the research and innovation system being ignored. However, identifying and exploring causal chains of impact propagation can strengthen agricultural innovation. IMPRESA investigated impact mechanisms for research‐based innovations in six case studies using a Participatory Impact Pathway Assessment approach. Several suggestions result for improving performance and public support for agricultural research. Planning for impact is needed at the design phase of research so that expected advances in technology and their consequences can be explored. At that stage and throughout the research process, soft social skills are required to promote uptake. Greater impact can be achieved through the close involvement of key public and private sector stakeholders, using stakeholder mapping as a supporting tool. There is a strong argument for the close involvement of relevant social scientists and professional facilitators from the design phase of research through to its ultimate impacts. Funding frameworks and the specification of calls for tenders would function more effectively by giving more flexibility for stakeholder engagement.     

林业上市公司科技创新的投入产出分析

基于分位数回归法和最小二乘法,对24家林业上市公司2012—2015年的科技创新投入产出数据构建的多元回归模型进行分析。结果表明:最小二乘法的分析结果显示在林业上市公司中,专利授权所占比例、无形资产所占比例与研发人员数量、研发投入金额、研发人员所占比例、研发投入所占比例之间均不存在显著的相关关系;而分位数回归法的分析结果显示在不同分位点下,自变量对专利授权所占比例、无形资产所占比例存在一定的显著影响。此外,针对部分林业上市公司存在科技创新意识薄弱投入稍显不足、专利授权所占比例和产出成果质量较低、科技创新投入产出效率不足以及研发人员和研发资金投入并不能确保科技创新产出增加的现象,提出增强科技创新意识、强化投入产出监管等建议。     

University and innovation district symbiosis in the context of placemaking: Insights from Australian cities

Innovation districts are a new land-use type, where public and private actors work towards fostering, attracting, and retaining investment and talent to revitalise urban areas and boost knowledge/innovation economy activities. Developing innovation districts has become a popular urban strategy across the globe. They are often co-located with universities to act as a critical anchor in their socio-spatial and operational matrices. Despite the role of universities in the knowledge/innovation economy being researched extensively, university and innovation district symbiosis, particularly in the context of placemaking, is an understudied area of research. This paper aims to investigate the socio-cultural role played by anchor universities in facilitating placemaking in innovation districts. The study adopts a qualitative approach to analyse how stakeholders perceive Australian innovation districts. The findings reveal that: (a) Universities play pivotal roles as facilitators of placemaking through societal integration in innovation districts; (b) Universities act as platforms for collaboration and exchange of knowledge by adopting extroverted and collaborative approaches; (c) Universities help in developing a sense of trust within the community and establishing innovation districts as democratic, cohesive and prosperous localities; (d) Universities contribute to socio-cultural and organisational maturity of innovation districts.     

我国苹果产业知识图谱构建研究

[目的]我国苹果产业发展历史悠久,几千年来积累的数据已经形成了一个"资源仓库"。由于这些数据资源之间缺乏深度的组织和语义关联,难以提供精品化的知识服务,因此,解决"资源仓库"中海量数据的知识提取,是产业数据分析的关键。[方法]文章从苹果产业的知识来源、知识获取、知识融合和知识表达4个方面对我国苹果产业知识图谱架构进行设计,提出面向苹果产业数据关联的语义模型构建思路。[结果]基于苹果产业本体的构建和知识关联法则,可以提炼和挖掘苹果产业隐含知识间的关联关系,深度融合苹果产业的数据,从知识检索、知识发现、产业指导等方面为苹果产业的发展提供知识服务。[结论]知识图谱的构建可以为苹果产业的知识组织、有效表达及深度推理提供理论框架,解决产业发展和科学研究中的相关问题,助力苹果产业的科技创新,提升我国苹果产业的竞争力。     

“十一五”期间渔业行业科技工作总结与展望

渔业行业科技创新和重大、关键技术的突破,为我国渔业持续、健康发展发挥了重要的作用。本文结合渔业领域现代农业产业技术体系建设专项、公益性(农业)行业科研专项开展情况,回顾了,"十一五"渔业行业科技立项基本情况,总结了取得的成绩,指出了存在的问题,并对今后我国渔业行业科技工作进行了展望,提出了继续加强行业科技投入力度、强化行业科技项目的组织实施、加大成果培育力度等建议。     

New Entrants Need Tailored Farm Advice

Supporting new entrants in farming is an increasingly important political and practical issue in European agriculture. This article looks at a specific group of new entrants – career changers – who move into agriculture from other occupational and educational backgrounds. As they bridge several worlds, they are often important innovators. One of the main challenges encountered by this group is the lack of tailored advice and insufficient capacity of the existing agricultural advisory services to respond to their specific innovation needs. The article examines how career changers use the knowledge from their background and access new knowledge on agriculture. The research is based on biographical interviews with individuals who have changed their careers and in-depth interviews with advisors in Latvia. The results suggest that the gap between knowledge needs and knowledge services is being filled through the creation of professional networks by new entrants with each other and with industry experts and customers and to a lesser degree with formal advisory services. We discuss how in this situation various actors in the EU’s agricultural knowledge and innovation system (AKIS) may better help the career changers to professionalise in farming and undertake sustainability-oriented innovations.     

东北国有林区森林食品产业结构水平与空间集聚特征分析

基于产业经济学理论,构建了森林食品产业结构水平与产业集聚程度的评价指标体系和多指标综合指数模型,对东北国有林区森林食品产业结构水平与产业集聚程度的综合指数进行测算和分析。研究结果表明:产业结构水平表现最优的为吉林集团,产业集聚程度表现最优的为龙江森工集团,二者表现均较差的为大兴安岭林业集团;在产业结构水平评价中,龙江森工集团表现略优于大兴安岭林业集团,二者差距不大,但在产业集聚程度评价中,大兴安岭林业集团与龙江森工集团和吉林集团存在较明显的差异。为了促进东北国有林区森林食品产业持续快速发展,必须进一步规范森林食品产业标准化生产及认证流程,加快推动森林食品产业品牌建设,依靠科技创新提高森林食品产业科技含量,优化森林食品产业市场布局拓展投融资渠道,完善森林食品产业扶持政策体系。     

科技创新在农产品加工业发展中的支撑作用

本文首先阐述科技创新在农产品加工业中的发展创新作用与推动产业融合作用,并从科技创新方式与行为主体方面分析科技创新的内涵,针对当前农产品加工业科技创新中出现的关键技术设备发展不足等问题,总结出加强基础原始创新、自主研发突破关键技术、构建全国协同创新体系等策略,旨在提高科技创新水平,提升自主研发能力,实现农产品加工业的长足...     

Melitz Meets Milk: The Impact of Quota Abolition on EU Dairy Export Competitiveness

Previous studies of EU milk quota abolition usually assume perfect competition (PC) in the dairy industry, despite evidence to the contrary. We use a global computable general equilibrium framework with an imperfectly competitive (IC) model variant, which offers insights into structural change (i.e. scale of output, firm entry/exit) and varietal diversity in the dairy industry. A heterogeneous‐firm Melitz extension enriches our analysis by endogenising the decision‐making process of domestic firms when exporting (or not) to specific foreign markets. The results from a PC CGE model variant are found to be consistent with respected market outlooks and official data. Furthermore, PC and IC variants generate broadly similar trends – a result corroborated in a previous study of Italian dairy firms. Our IC model prediction of a ‘shakeout’ among EU dairy firms is tentatively supported by actual observations. Finally, as an industry characterised by significant product innovation, increased extra‐EU export orientation by remaining dairy firms increases varietal choice, which further boosts EU dairy exports compared with the PC model variant.     

Are In‐House and Outsourcing Innovation Strategies Correlated? Evidence from the European Agri‐Food Sector

We analyse European agri‐food firms’ choices about innovation in‐house or through outsourcing and provide empirical evidence about the correlation between these strategies. The relationship between the innovation strategy and firm‐, industry‐ and innovation‐specific characteristics is analysed through a bivariate probit model, which uses firm data from the EFIGE Bruegel‐UniCredit dataset. Transaction cost, resource base and knowledge governance arguments are used to explain the choice of innovation strategy. Our results show that the decisions to innovate in‐house or through outsourcing are independent from each other. In addition, we find that several organisational characteristics such as communication systems, human resource practices and specialisation are likely to influence both strategies. Conversely, organisational characteristics such as the allocation of authority and the business network do not seem relevant in determining the innovation strategies of the European agri‐food sector.     

Social learning: A knowledge and capacity building approach for adaptive co-management of contested landscapes

There is increasing recognition in the field of natural resource management that transformative adaptation to climate and policy change requires cross industry learning and cooperation at the landscape scale. This can be supported by the development of systematic methodology on learning models for adaptive co-management between diverse and conflicting landscape managers. Our example of land-use change to hardwood plantation forestry in sub-tropical Australia illustrates an innovative implementation framework for a social learning process that helped build knowledge and community capacity for adaptive co-management of dynamic and shared landscapes. The action research methodology relied on deliberation over local knowledge, existing and emergent scientific findings, resulting in attitudinal change. Processes required facilitation and mediation by a bridging organisation, in this case a research institution, to support cross-scale communications. Reflections suggest that attention is required to manage risk and support stakeholder analysis, particularly in understanding contested values and overcoming power differentials between industry and self-interest groups. Resolving funding issues will require greater consideration by governments and industry groups of their social responsibilities to communities and the environment; particularly as this social learning model is posited for more broad-scale use in providing multi-level governance linkages and as a basis for targeting interventions to address policy gaps or failure.     

The novelty of simple and known technologies and the rhythm of farmer-centred innovation in family dairy farming in Brazil

Family dairy farming is under threat from the expansion of the sugarcane economy in south-eastern Brazil. This paper analyses an intervention programme which aimed to intensify dairy production and make family dairy farming sustainable in this competitive context. The case study of the ‘Balde Cheio’ Programme (Full Bucket) can be seen as an alternative method of knowledge generation to that of the dominant research approach which prioritizes cutting-edge technologies. This paper characterizes this farmer-oriented innovation programme for dairy farming systems, in which research, development and extension are seen as a long-term learning process. It analyses how the programme has been adapted to fit the diversity of situations found amongst farmers and to heterogeneous production conditions. The study relates the circulation of knowledge, the search for innovation by recombining apparently simple and known technologies, the use of experiments on the farm and the adaptation of the rhythm of innovation to the specific situation of the farm as the critical issues to achieve sustainable production systems.     

信息化对休闲农业绩效影响评价研究*——基于北京三星级以上休闲农业园区的调研分析

[目的]休闲农业是实现乡村产业振兴的重要途径,其提档升级关键在于产品创新、体验增值、服务宣介等价值体系的提升。信息化是现代技术传播与扩散的重要渠道,更是产业价值体系提升的核心力量,探讨信息化对休闲农业企业创新产出绩效的影响,将有助于挖掘休闲农业创新的新要素。[方法]基于北京市三星级以上休闲农业园区(企业)的调查数据,文章构建了包含知识支撑、基础设施以及技术应用3个维度的休闲农业园区(企业)信息化评价指标体系,进一步采用超效率DEA-Tobit模型分析了信息化对休闲农业企业创新产出绩效的影响。[结果]信息化是休闲农业企业创新绩效的重要动力源泉,信息化对休闲农业产出绩效的增长具有正向促进作用,符合"增长论"假说,信息化水平每增加1%,可促进企业创新绩效增长2.692%。[结论]对于处于较低创新绩效水平的企业而言,可通过提升自身的信息化建设水平获取绩效的增值。     

Determinants of Voter Support for a Five‐Year Ban on the Cultivation of Genetically Modified Crops in Switzerland

While much effort has been devoted to estimating market premiums for non‐genetically modified (GM) food, the results of such research are largely silent about the preferences for the public good aspects, or externalities, of GM food production. For public goods, the closest substitute of private consumption decisions is voting on referenda. In November 2005, 55.7% of 2 million Swiss voters approved a five‐year moratorium (ban) on the commercial cultivation of GM plants in Switzerland. The present study examines how individual voting decisions were determined by: (i) socioeconomic characteristics; (ii) political preference/ideology; and (iii) agreement with a series of arguments in favour and against the use of GM plants in Swiss agriculture. The analysis is based on the data of the regular voter survey undertaken after the national‐level voting in Switzerland. The results suggest that current concerns about the use of genetically engineered plants in agriculture may not automatically decrease with higher levels of education/knowledge and generational change. Furthermore, analysis of voter motives suggests that public support for a ban on GM crops may be even larger in other countries, where industrial interests in crop biotechnology are less pronounced.     

安徽省粮食生产现代化与科技创新协调发展研究

［目的］农业现代化与科技创新协调发展是实现乡村振兴的客观要求。粮食生产作为农业生产的基础和主体，实现粮食生产现代化是实现农业现代化的必要选择。通过构建粮食生产现代化与科技创新协调发展评价体系，并对其进行定量分析，探索两者间的协调发展程度、特征与实现对策，进而促进安徽省农业现代化、农业科技创新的健康发展，促进“四化”同步、乡村振兴发展步伐。［方法］文章通过农业现代化与科技创新的内在联系和协调发展的一般规律，从投入产出角度构建粮食生产现代化和科技创新的协调发展指标体系，运用数据包络分析法实证研究2011—2017年安徽省16个地市的互动效应和协调状况。［结果］从总体效应来看，安徽省粮食生产现代化和科技创新呈现良好的协调关系，地市间协调水平差异较大，但是总体呈现上升趋势； 从具体效应来看，农业科技创新促进效力更优，但是皖中地区粮食生产现代化促进效力显著。［结论］推动粮食生产现代化与科技创新协调发展，安徽省需要健全协调发展体系、建立多元投入机制、注重地区发展差异和完善人才培养机制，为两者协调发展提供更大的空间。     

Lost in participation: How local knowledge was overlooked in land use planning and risk governance in Tōhoku,Japan

This article aims to identify gaps in public participation in land use planning to improve risk governance, using the case of the Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE) in 2011. Overreliance on technical information and on the opinion of experts is occurring side by side along with negligence of local knowledge and lack of effective public participation in decision-making, creating a sense of overconfidence regarding scientific knowledge and new infrastructure's abilities to withstand future disasters. Using the case study method in GEJE, our research identified three main overall gaps in participation. Firstly, a lot of local knowledge from previous experiences was not incorporated into land use plans in the region even after similar events in the past. Secondly, there was technical information that alerted to possible risks for land use in certain areas, but this information did not impede development in risk areas due to lack of effective participation in the land use planning processes. Finally, Japan allows participation in many land use planning process, but some of the most important decisions, such as on the sitting of nuclear plants had little or any local participation. Thus, strengthening public participation in land use by closing those three gaps could improve risk governance and resilience of localities to cope with large natural and technological disasters in the future.     

福建省制浆造纸产业创新能力的评价研究

从产业自身创新能力和产业外部环境二维角度建立评价指标体系,使用模糊综合评价法对福建制浆造纸产业的创新能力进行实证研究。结果表明:福建制浆造纸产业创新能力处于"一般"水平,产业规模、管理水平是制约福建制浆造纸产业创新能力最重要的2个因素。     

The roles of public sector versus private sector in R&D and technology generation: the case of maize in Asia

This paper reports the findings of a study whose objectives were to compare and contrast the public and private sectors in Asia in terms of their (1) estimated level of investment in maize breeding research; (2) germplasm outputs; and (3) nature and extent of roles played in the maize seed industry. Since the 1960s, yield gains, rather than area expansion, have fuelled increases in maize production in Asia. Yield gains, in turn, have been due to the shift in maize cultivation from mostly open‐pollinated varieties (OPVs) to mostly hybrids. This transition also shifted the locus of modern maize breeding research from government research organisations to private national and multinational seed companies. In countries where both the public and private sectors participated in maize research, private sector research investment far exceeded that of the public sector. With more aggressive marketing programmes, the private sector captured 89% of the Asian maize seed market in the late 1990s. National public seed research agencies (including universities and cooperatives) developed and produced more maize OPVs than hybrids, mass‐produced and distributed seed cheaply, addressed location‐specific production problems, and provided agricultural extension services. The private seed companies developed, produced, sold and promoted their own proprietary hybrids. The reluctance of the private sector, however, to address the needs of marginal maize farmers should encourage the public sector to continue playing an active role in maize research and development (R&D), seed production and modern maize technology dissemination, especially with adequate support from appropriate government policies.