On the Segregation of Genetically Modified,Conventional and Organic Products in European Agriculture: A Multi‐market Equilibrium Analysis

Evaluating the possible benefits of the introduction of genetically modified (GM) crops must address the issue of consumer resistance as well as the complex regulation that has ensued. In the European Union (EU), this regulation envisions the co‐existence of GM food with conventional and quality‐enhanced products, mandates the labelling and traceability of GM products and allows only a stringent adventitious presence of GM content in other products. All these elements are brought together within a partial equilibrium model of the EU agricultural food sector. The model comprises conventional, GM and organic food. Demand is modelled in a novel fashion, whereby organic and conventional products are treated as horizontally differentiated but GM products are vertically differentiated (weakly inferior) relative to conventional ones. Supply accounts explicitly for the land constraint at the sector level and for the need for additional resources to produce organic food. Model calibration and simulation allow insights into the qualitative and quantitative effects of the large‐scale introduction of GM products in the EU market. We find that the introduction of GM food reduces overall EU welfare, mostly because of the associated need for costly segregation of non‐GM products, but the producers of quality‐enhanced products actually benefit.     

建设国家热带作物工程技术研究中心的思考

针对热带作物生产发展现状,分析热带作物产业在我国农业生产中的重要性,探讨建立国家热带作物工程技术研究中心的必要性和思路。     

How would compliance with dietary recommendations affect revenues for agricultural producers?

Nutritionists and other health experts have recommended a range of dietary plans, and these often differ significantly. Although the USDA food guides have been the most visible in the United States, other dietary plans now are achieving greater public recognition. Our analysis extracts the nutrient recommendations for seven dietary plans and models the recommendations as shifts in demand for the nutrients. Demand shifts for nutrients are combined with nutrient composition shares to simulate the revenue implications in selected agricultural markets. Based on current consumption patterns in the United States, we find that compliance with Harvard’s Healthy Eating Pyramid would generate the greatest revenue gains for specialty crop producers in California.     

苏州市秸秆综合利用重点项目及实施保障对策

通过总结分析苏州农作物秸秆利用的现状和存在问题,围绕农业可持续发展和改善生态环境,把推进秸秆综合利用与社会主义新农村建设、农业增产增效和农民增收结合起来。提出了推广秸秆综合利用的重点项目,并探讨重点项目实施的保障措施与对策。     

天祝县民族地区特色农作物比较优势实证分析

文章采用规模比较优势指数、单产比较优势指数以及综合比较优势指数等方法,对天祝县2003~2012年种植面积较大且地域特色明显的3种主要农作物比较优势进行了横向和纵向比较,并与市内其余县域进行了差异比较分析,以期掌握天祝县主要农作物比较优势状况以及发展变化趋势。结果表明:天祝县马铃薯和油菜具有明显的比较优势,且优势十分明显,可以大力发展;蔬菜作为天祝县一个具有后发优势的产业,规模比较优势明显,单产比较优势和综合比较优势接近于1,具有潜在的发展潜力。建议天祝县特色农作物的发展,要紧紧抓住国家支持藏区建设和建立丝绸之路新经济带的历史机遇,抓住天祝县被列为全国北方油菜优势区和西北马铃薯优势产区的有力契机,走稳定规模优势、扩大产量优势、强化产品质量的良性循环发展之路。同时,要根据天祝县优势农作物产区属于复合型区域的特点,协调各种优势作物的种植规模,形成资源和要素配置合理的配置,在产业发展中要充分发挥高原气候资源优势,全面提高优势农作物的生产效率和产品质量,以实现民族地区特色农业产业健康可持续发展。     

Analyzing crop change scenario with the SmartScape™ spatial decision support system

Agricultural land use is increasingly changing due to different anthropogenic activities. A combination of economic, socio-political, and cultural factors exerts a direct impact on agricultural changes. This study aims to illustrate how stakeholders and policymakers can take advantage of a web-based spatial decision support system (SDSS), namely SmartScape™ to either test existing crop change policies or produce effective crop change decisions using tradeoff analysis. We addressed the consequences of two common crop change scenarios for Dane county in Wisconsin, United States, (a) replacing perennial energy crops with annual energy crops and (b) replacing annual energy crops with perennial energy crops. The results suggested that converting areas under grass and alfalfa production that were located on high quality soil and flat slope to corn promoted a net-income and availability of gross biofuel. Additionally, the model outcome proposed that converting areas under corn and soy production that were located on high slope to grass promoted net-energy, phosphorus loading, soil loss, soil carbon sequestration, nitrous oxide emission, grassland bird habitat, pollinator abundance, and biocontrol. Therefore, SmartScape™ can assist strategic crop change policy by comparing the tradeoff among ecosystem services to ensure that crop change policies have outcomes that are agreeable to a diversity of policymakers.     

The Lived Experience of Food Sovereignty: Gender,Indigenous Crops and Small‐Scale Farming in Mtubatuba,South Africa

Food sovereignty has become a powerful concept to critique the dominant global food regime. Although it has not taken root in South Africa as fiercely as elsewhere, we use this concept to explore how one small‐scale farmer seeks to wean herself from the dominant food system in the small town of Mtubatuba, KwaZulu‐Natal. Using ethnographic methods and in‐depth interviews about this single intense and extreme case, we explore this farmer's commitment and argue that it constitutes what we call the ‘lived experience of food sovereignty’. If food sovereignty is concerned with small‐farmer control over decisions about food cultivation, distribution and consumption, we examine this farmer's praxis and explore the obstacles she faces. These include gendered and racialized agrarian questions, land struggles, social reproduction and perceptions of her indigenous crops. We also examine the networks, knowledge, systems and methods that have allowed her to cultivate her self‐reliance.     

Abandoned agricultural land and its potential for short rotation woody crops in Latvia

Abandoned agricultural land in Latvia offers high potential for renewable energy production, especially for short rotation woody crops (SRWC). The objective of this study is to understand the main reasons why agricultural lands remain abandoned, and whether these reasons could pose any obstacles to the establishment of SRWC. The study was carried out in the Latgale planning region, with estimated 75,530 ha of abandoned agricultural land suitable for SRWC. Qualitative methods of data collection and analysis were used to study the phenomenon. The results show that the primary reason for agricultural land abandonment is the absentee landowners who do not reside in the municipality (e.g., heirs, urban dwellers, intermediaries, and/or investors). Other reasons are: (1) perception of a greater future value from other types of land use; (2) environmental and biophysical characteristics of the land; (3) policy obstacles; (4) social behavior; and, (5) financial and economic constraints. The study also reveals that the establishment of SRWC on abandoned agricultural lands will depend on policies guiding land acquisition and agricultural land use, as well as social and economic policies that encourage small holder production, especially in Latgale.     

我国不同区域在新阶段粮食连增中的贡献因素分析

[目的]通过将我国三大粮食功能区粮食生产变化量的贡献因素分解为粮食单产贡献、耕地面积贡献、粮食播种面积占农作物总播种面积比值的贡献以及复种指数贡献四种,试图探讨各因素对粮食生产变化量的贡献及时空差异化原因。[方法]利用第二次国土资源普查数据对耕地面积进行调整,采用LMDI对数平均迪氏指数模型对我国31个省域粮食生产总量变化的贡献因素进行分解,并对不同区域粮食生产变化量贡献因素的时空差异进行比较分析。[结果]研究结果表明2004~2013年间粮食三大功能产区粮食生产变化量出现显著的空间分异,粮食生产分布向主产区集中,其对全国粮食连增的贡献率达到88%。在影响粮食生产变化量的贡献因素中,粮食单产因素对粮食十连增的贡献率达到60%,成为三大粮食产区尤其是主销区粮食生产的主要贡献因素,播种面积因素(包括耕地面积贡献、粮食播种面积占农作物总播种面积的比值贡献以及复种指数贡献)对粮食十连增的贡献率为40%。[结论]新阶段我国粮食连增主要由粮食主产区引领,粮食单产贡献是不同区域粮食生产变化量的主要贡献因素。     

Implementing the water framework directive in Denmark – Lessons on agricultural measures from a legal and regulatory perspective

One of the major challenges in the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) is how to address diffuse agricultural pollution of the aquatic environment. In Denmark the implementation of agricultural measures has been fraught with difficulty in the form of delays and legal proceedings, despite an ambitious starting point. Why has the implementation of the WFD been so difficult? Based on an analysis of three core components (effectiveness, scale and legal issues) of three agricultural measures (riparian zones, reduced management of streams and catch crops), the paper argues that the legal and regulatory complexity of adopting mandatory land use related measures at the national level to achieve site-specific environmental objectives was underestimated in a top-down political process. The ambitious mandatory policy measures, which added to existing high regulation pressure, led to regulatory challenges, such as possible violation of private property rights raising questions about the actual environmental effects at local level. Consequently, political acceptability and legitimacy of the agricultural measures were undermined, resulting in a gradual withdrawal of the measures and a policy failure. It is argued that the adoption of more flexible measures to be implemented at the local level could have resulted in fewer difficulties from an economic and legal point of view as measures could have been applied where there was a clear environmental benefit, and possibly also at a lower cost.