Doing it the Swiss Way

Doing it the Swiss Way In the mid‐nineties, Switzerland changed from a high‐price support policy to a policy‐concept that was designed to guarantee a multifunctional agriculture. This change was brought about by some plebiscites in which people first voted against simply switching to direct payments not bound to environmental quality and then decided in favour of a direct payment system with a strong emphasis on environmental quality. Farmers now receive most direct payments if they comply with certain minimum environmental standards, and additional payments for additional improvements to ecological quality as defined at the national level. New regulations that enable the support of regional networks which deliver particularly high ecological quality are of particular interest. At the same time, the importance of market support is decreasing rapidly. The experience with this system can be evaluated according to how structural change in agriculture is buffered, how the ecological quality of Swiss landscapes is maintained or enhanced and the effectiveness of the individual programmes. All three yardsticks lead to fairly positive results. This suggests that a rational agricultural policy approach does not necessarily mean liberalisation. A multifunctional concept of agriculture may allow substantial intervention by the state. Faites le à la Suisse Dans le courant des années 90, la politique agricole Suisse est passée ?un soutien fondé sur des prix élevés à un système destinéà assurer ?existence ?une agriculture multifonctionnelle. Ce changement est la conséquence ?une série de votes‐référendum dans lesquels les électeurs ?abord repoussèrent ?idée de paiements directs sans lien avec ?environnement puis, ensuite, adoptèrent un système de paiements directs mettant ?accent sur la qualité de ?environnement. A ?heure actuelle, pour recevoir la plus grande partie de leurs paiements directs, les agriculteurs doivent respecter certains standards environnementaux minimums. Ils ont droit à des paiements supplémentaires s'ils améliorent la qualité ecologique de leur environnement, telle qu'elle est définie au niveau national. Un intérêt spécial s'attache aux nouveaux règlements qui permettent de soutenir des réseaux régionaux susceptibles de conduire à une qualitéécologique particulière. En même temps, le volume des soutiens directs aux marchés est en baisse rapide. Pour évaluer ce système, il faut examiner comment les changements structures en agriculture sont amortis, si la qualité des paysages suisses est maintenue ou améliorée, et si les programmes individuels sont efficaces. Chacun de ces critères conduit à une appréciation positive, ce qui montre qu'une approche rationnelle de la politique agricole n'est pas forcément synonyme de libéralisation. Le caractère multifonctionnel de ?agriculture peut justifier une assez large intervention de ?Etat. Auf schweizerische Art. Mitte der 1990er Jahre veränderte die Schweiz ihre Politik der Hochpreisstützung hin zu einer Politik, die eine multifunktionale Landwirtschaft garantieren sollte. Diese Veränderung wurde durch mehrere Volksentscheide herbeigeführt, im Laufe derer sich das Volk zunächst dagegen entschied, direkte Zahlungen einzuführen, welche nicht an die Qualität der Umwelt gebunden sind; später jedoch entschied sich das Volk für direkte Zahlungen mit starker Berücksichtigung der Umweltqualität. In den meisten Fällen erhalten die Landwirte nun direkte Zahlungen, wenn sie bestimmte Mindeststandards im Hinblick auf die Umwelt erfüllen, und zusätzliche Zahlungen, wenn sie zusätzlich zur auf nationaler Ebene festgelegten ökologischen Qualität beitragen. Neue Bestimmungen, welche die Unterstützung von regionalen Netzwerken ermöglichen, welche eine besonders hohe ökologische Qualität hervorbringen, sind von besonderem Interesse. Zugleich nimmt die Bedeutung von marktstützenden Maβnahmen rapide ab. Die Erfahrungen mit diesem System können danach bewertet werden, wie der Strukturwandel in der Landwirtschaft abgefedert wird, wie die ökologische Qualität der schweizerischen Landschaft aufrecht erhalten oder verbessert wird, sowie anhand der Wirksamkeit der einzelnen Programme. Alle drei Maβstäbe führen zu recht positiven Ergebnissen. Dies legt nahe, dass ein rationaler Ansatz für die Agrarpolitik nicht notwendigerweise eine Liberalisierung bedeutet. Ein multifunktionales Verständnis von Landwirtschaft könnte eine beträchtliche staatliche Intervention zulassen.     

Producer Experience, Learning by Doing, and Yield Performance

Current crop insurance rating procedures consider only performance for the individual crop in question. Recent farm legislation has given producers considerable planting flexibility and, as a result, many have shifted to new crops. Producers without a production history for the new crop may be offered levels of insurance that do not accurately reflect their expected yields. Likewise, premium rates may not reflect a producer's actual risk for a new crop. We examine the extent to which information about expected yields may be gleaned from a consideration of historical performance on other crops. We also consider the extent to which yield performance exhibits learning by doing such that yields improve with experience. Though the results are mixed, we generally find that yield performance tends to improve with experience. However, when yields are conditioned on historical yield performance for other crops, the importance of experience is diminished significantly. Yield performance is related to a number of farm characteristics. Finally, we examine the extent to which yield variability is correlated across crops for individual farmers. Implications for crop insurance rating practices are discussed. The results demonstrate robust correlation between a farm's historical yield on other crops and a newly produced crop—a factor largely ignored in current crop insurance contracts.     

做好工伤保险基金的收与支应注意的问题

工伤保险制度作为社会保障体系的重要组成部分，是社会主义市场经济的重要支柱。该文主要结合农十三师社会保险基金管理的情况进行了分析，并提出了确定公平合理的工伤保险费率，严格限定工伤保险基金的支付范围和真正发挥工伤保险储备金的作用等应该注意的问题。     

搞好物资协作 为森工生产服务

物资协作工作在森工企业生产中占有重要地位 ,它给森工企业生产和发展带来诸多效益。本文从领导重视 ,选择协作对象 ,坚持互利互惠和形成体系4个方面 ,并结合实际事例进行了论述     

做好人力资源工作 保证企业健康发展

在商品经济社会 ,市场竞争的实质就是人才的竞争。在通信企业的各种资源中 ,人力资源是第一位的 ,是企业中最重要和最宝贵的资源。如何做好人力资源工作 ,保证企业在激烈的市场竞争中立于不败之地 ,是摆在我们面前的重要课题。１ 通信企业人力资源管理存在的弊端吸引、使用、激励、开发是现代企业人力资源管理的核心任务。长期以来 ,受计划经济和垄断经营的影响 ,企业的人力资源管理工作没有摆脱“人事管理”的旧观念。首先是缺乏规划性。对企业目前及未来需要什么样的人才 ,没有明确的规划 ,造成人才断层 ,后备力量不足 ,制约了企业的发展…     

Learning from Doing Participatory Rural Research: Lessons from the Peak District National Park

Understanding the socio‐economic and environmental implications of rural change requires the active participation of many research disciplines and stakeholders. However, it remains unclear how to best integrate participatory and biophysical research to provide information useful to land managers and policy makers. This paper presents findings of a RELU scoping study that has formulated and applied a research framework based on stakeholder participation and adaptive learning to model rural change in the Peak District National Park in the north of England. The paper describes a learning process that integrates different types of knowledge to produce future scenarios that describe possible economic and environmental changes due to a national review of burning practices on heather moorland and blanket bogs. We stress the need for using social network analysis to structure stakeholder engagement and outline how a range of participatory approaches can facilitate more inclusive environmental planning and policy development.     

开展第二次创业把延边林业做大做强

本文从林业在延边特色经济发展中的地位和作用,发展延边特色经济的对策方面阐述了深化改革,搞好产业结构调整,把延边林业做大做强的具体思路,以期闯出一条具有延边特色的林业经济发展之路.     

认真贯彻胡锦涛总书记来川视察讲话精神 坚持"两手抓"全力做好当前粮食工作

当前,全省粮食系统要认真学习贯彻胡锦涛总书记来川视察讲话精神和省委批转省政府党组关于当前经济发展情况分析和对策建议的报告,落实一手抓非典型肺炎防治、一手抓经济发展这个中心的具体措施。结合当前我省粮食工作中几个值得高度重视的问题,我提出以下几点工作意见,希望全省粮食工作者特别是市、县两级粮食局长,一起来认真思考,为全面完成今年粮食工作任务,抓好工作落实而努力奋斗。一、千方百计抓好小春粮油收购(一)在抗击非典特殊时期要高度重视粮油收购工作在全国人民全面抗击非典的关键时期,按照党中央、国务院“两手抓,两手都要硬…     

Doing more harm than good? Community based natural resource management and the neglect of local institutions in policy development

Approaches to natural resource management emphasise the importance of involving local people and institutions in order to build capacity, limit costs, and achieve environmental sustainability. Governments worldwide, often encouraged by international donors, have formulated devolution policies and legal instruments that provide an enabling environment for devolved natural resource management. However, implementation of these policies reveals serious challenges. This article explores the effects of limited involvement of local people and institutions in policy development and implementation. An in-depth study of the Forest Policy of Malawi and Village Forest Areas in the Lilongwe district provides an example of externally driven policy development which seeks to promote local management of natural resources. The article argues that policy which has weak ownership by national government and does not adequately consider the complexity of local institutions, together with the effects of previous initiatives on them, can create a cumulative legacy through which destructive resource use practices and social conflict may be reinforced. In short, poorly developed and implemented community based natural resource management policies can do considerably more harm than good. Approaches are needed that enable the policy development process to embed an in-depth understanding of local institutions whilst incorporating flexibility to account for their location-specific nature. This demands further research on policy design to enable rigorous identification of positive and negative institutions and ex-ante exploration of the likely effects of different policy interventions.