The land footprint of the EU bioeconomy: Monitoring tools,gaps and needs

The bioeconomy is gaining growing attention as a perceived win-win strategy for environment and economy in the EU. However, the EU already has a disproportionately high global cropland footprint compared to the world average, and uses more cropland than domestically available to supply its demand for agricultural products. There is a risk that uncontrolled growth of the bioeconomy will increase land use pressures abroad. For that reason, a monitoring system is needed to account for the global land use of European consumption. The aim of this paper is to take a closer look at the tools needed to monitor global cropland footprints, as well as the targets needed to benchmark development. This paper reviews recent developments in land footprint accounting approaches and applies the method of global land use accounting to calculate the global cropland footprint of the EU-27 for the years between 2000 and 2011. It finds a slight decrease in per capita cropland footprints over the past decade (of around 1% annually, reaching 0.29 ha/cap in 2011) and advocates promoting a further decrease in per capita cropland requirements (of around 2% annually) to reach global land use targets for keeping consumption within the safe operating space of planetary boundaries by 2030. It argues that strategic land reduction targets may still go hand in hand with the growth of a smart, innovative and sustainable bioeconomy by reinforcing the need for policies that support greater efficiency across the life-cycle and reduce wasteful and excessive consumption practices. Recommendations for further improving land footprint accounting are given.     

Toward a systemic monitoring of the European bioeconomy: Gaps,needs and the integration of sustainability indicators and targets for global land use

The contribution of the EU bioeconomy to sustainable development depends on how it is implemented. A high innovation potential is accompanied by considerable risks, in particular regarding the exacerbation of global land use conflicts. This article argues that a systemic monitoring system capable of connecting human-environment interactions and multiple scales of analysis in a dynamic way is needed to ensure that the EU bioeconomy transition meets overarching goals, like the Sustainable Development Goals. The monitoring should be centered around a dashboard of key indicators and targets covering environmental, economic, and social aspects of the bioeconomy. With a focus on the land dimension, this article examines the strengths and weakness of different economic, environmental and integrated models and methods for monitoring and forecasting the development of the EU bioeconomy. The state of research on key indicators and targets, as well as research needs to integrate these aspects into existing modeling approaches, are assessed. The article concludes with key criteria for a systemic bioeconomy monitoring system.     

CAP Subsidies and Productivity of the EU Farms

The paper investigates the impact of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) subsidies on farm total factor productivity (TFP) in the European Union (EU). We employ a structural semi‐parametric estimation algorithm directly incorporating the effect of subsidies into a model of unobserved productivity. We empirically study the effects using the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) samples for the EU‐15 countries. Our main findings are clear: subsidies impact negatively on farm productivity in the period before the decoupling reform was implemented; after decoupling the effect of subsidies on productivity is more nuanced and in several countries it turned positive.     

Changing land use intensity in Europe – Recent processes in selected case studies

In recent decades the intensification of agricultural production in many European countries has been one of the key components of land-use change. The impact of agricultural intensification varies according to national and local contexts and a greater understanding of the drivers of intensification will help to mitigate against its negative impacts and harness potential benefits. This paper analyses changes in land use intensity in six case studies in Europe. A total of 437 landowners were interviewed and their responses were analysed in relation to changes in land use intensity and agricultural production between 2001 and 2011. In the case studies in Western and Eastern Europe we observed stabilisation during the last decade, and no clear tendency of increase or decrease of land use intensity. The use of fertilizers and pesticides seems to have decreased in our cases in Western Europe, which is contrary to trends in Eastern Europe. Agricultural production remained stable in almost all cases, except for an increase in Austria and Romania which may indicate that the farming efficiency has increased. A statistical analysis showed a division between study areas in Romania and Austria (increasing land use intensity) versus those in the Netherlands, Denmark and Greece (decreasing). In the Mediterranean cases we observe a process where agriculture is becoming increasingly marginalised, at the same time as changes in function with regard to urbanisation and recreational land uses have taken place. Logistic regression highlighted the importance of farm size and farmer type in understanding changes in land use intensity. The dominant pattern of stabilisation which has occurred over the past 10 years may also partly be a result of effective EU and national environmental and agricultural policies, which are increasingly concerned with improving environmental conditions in rural areas.     

The Distribution of CAP Benefits among Member States and the Impact of a Partial Re‐nationalisation: A Note

Using an approach based on the PSE/CSE methodology, this paper estimates the distribution of benefits due to the CAP among the EU member states and the impact on them of a CAP partial re‐nationalisation scenario under the current policy mix as well as under full decoupling. Currently, Ireland, Denmark, Greece, Spain and France are found to benefit from the operation of the CAP. Full decoupling increases the benefits to these countries and the losses of Germany and the UK, while it decreases the losses of some others. Re‐nationalisation benefits today's losers, particularly Germany. Overall, the CAP is found to promote cohesion among EU member states, especially when moving closer to full decoupling. Partial re‐nationalisation decreases the CAP effect on cohesion.     

Productivity of Agricultural Labour and Land: An International Comparison

This paper examines partial agricultural land and labour productivity in 1975 and 1980, for different world regions. The results suggest that land and labour productivity are higher in developed countries relative to developing countries. However, agricultural labour productivity differences are more marked than those for agricultural land productivity. The productivity values for 1975 and 1980 indicate a widening of productivity differences, more so in the case of agricultural labour than land. The paper also proposes an alternative approach to estimating agricultural land and labour productivity. This approach, which regresses agricultural labour productivity on a given level of agricultural land productivity, suggests a narrowing of agricultural land productivity differences, relative to the initial approach, across Africa, Asia and Europe during the 1975-1980 period. A brief discussion of the agricultural development policy implications of the results concludes the paper.     

长江经济带水足迹与经济高质量发展的脱钩效应

基于2009—2018年长江经济带11个省市水足迹的面板数据,运用Tapio脱钩弹性系数模型研究水足迹与经济高质量发展之间的脱钩效应,利用STIRPAT模型研究水足迹强度的驱动因素。研究结果表明:长江经济带水足迹总量在2016年出现拐点后逐年下降,而经济高质量发展水平整体处于稳步上升状态,二者整体上呈现弱脱钩趋势。其中,长江下游省市基本实现强脱钩,中上游省市从弱相关性向强相关转变。     

Similarities and dissimilarities between the EU agricultural and rural development model and Romanian agriculture. Challenges and perspectives

The main aims of this study are to highlight the differences and the similarities between the European model of agricultural and rural development, and the state of play in the Romanian agricultural sector. Statistically speaking, the agricultural sector's indicators of the past two decades place Romania outside the family picture of the EU countries, with very slight resemblances, and very strong discrepancies between their economic, technical, and institutional characteristics. At present, competition-wise, farming and farmers in Romania are still strongly disfavoured in relation to their competitors in the old EU Member States. In Romania, the economic and institutional mechanisms have most often been devised to the disadvantage of agricultural production, by claiming that subsistence farming would be the sustainable way, and by channelling the added value to other sectors. An option to continue the agricultural policies of the past decades and to abandon the national support lent to agriculture would be particularly risky through its unpredictable and incalculable social and economic effects.     

郑州市典型产业用地效益与碳排放强度的关系研究——基于181家企业的调查

研究目的:从企业视角探讨用地效益与碳排放强度的关系,并提出低碳、集约的产业用地方式和发展模式。研究方法:基于郑州市2012—2015年181家典型企业的调研数据,运用多因素综合评价法和Tapio脱钩模型等方法分析不同产业用地效益和碳排放强度的关系。研究结果:(1)产业用地效益水平整体不高且行业差异明显,其中,电力、热力生产和供应业用地效益水平最低,烟草制品业用地效益水平最高;(2)大多数产业碳排放强度小于0.1 t/m2,且年际变化波动较小,碳排放强度最大的是电力、热力生产和供应业,最小的是汽车制造业;(3)不同产业用地效益和碳排放强度的相关性差异明显,且两者间的脱钩状态随时间波动较大,2012—2015年以扩张负脱钩和强脱钩为主。其中,农副食品加工业、酒、饮料和精制茶制造业等产业为扩张负脱钩;煤炭开采和洗选业、食品制造业等产业为强脱钩。研究结论:不同产业用地效益和碳排放强度的相关性和脱钩状态差异明显,建议未来应采取差别化的发展模式和策略,比如农副食品加工业、酒、饮料和精制茶制造业等产业应重点通过提高能源效率降低碳排放,而煤炭开采和洗选业、食品制造业等产业则应重点通过土地集约利用降低碳排放强度。     

Land system change in Italy from 1884 to 2007: Analysing the North–South divergence on the basis of an integrated indicator framework

Over the past centuries, land systems in Italy experienced fundamental shifts, owing to the availability of new energy forms, population surges, and technological progress. The 20th century was characterized by massive productivity increases, accompanied by gradual land abandonment and the return of forest land. We here analyze 120 years of land system change in Italy, applying the human appropriation of net primary production (HANPP) framework, a metric for socio-economic pressures on terrestrial ecosystems. HANPP allows integrating ecological with societal perspectives, by systematically quantifying (a) biomass harvest and (b) the difference between potential productivity of ecosystems and current productivity induced by land use processes, such as land conversion, or land degradation. Besides assessing national trends we calculated HANPP separately for the Italian North and South between 1934 and 2007, in order to scrutinize if high regional discrepancies in terms of natural and socio-economic preconditions translate into diverging land system trajectories. Our results show that national HANPP has been declining from 78% of natural productivity before WWII to 56% in 2007, indicating a declining land -use induced pressure on biomass flows over time. Simultaneously, biomass harvest increased by around 26% due to agricultural intensification, despite shrinking croplands. Although we found a significant difference between the Northern and Southern region in the absolute levels of several land use indicators related to biomass appropriation, the overarching trends of land system change were remarkably similar in both regions. This suggests that underlying drivers of land system change, such as policies aimed at land-use intensification and structural change were equally dominating land system trajectories in the North and South of Italy, not withstanding their socio-ecological divergences.     

A quick scan tool to assess the relative prospects of European regions for sustainable agriculture in a liberal market

The European Union (EU) most likely will continue to adapt its Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to a more liberal market policy. We assume that this process will take place in the next 20 years. A relevant question then is which European regions, under such conditions, have prospects to maintain a sustainable agriculture in terms of the objectives within the ‘People, Profit and Planet’ framework of sustainability. We explored the question by defining simple indicators for the 3 P-objectives, quantifying the indicators per region, ranking the regions per indicator and defining the prospect of a region in comparison to other regions. The approach is very robust, easy to update and indicative for quickly assessing future prospects of regions. The results are presented in three maps showing more than 160 regions of the EU-25 member countries classified according to their agricultural prospects for competitiveness (Profit), employment (People) and land use (Planet). By considering the three maps in combination, the overall prospects for sustainable agriculture under “liberalised” conditions can be assessed. Based on this quick scan, it is concluded that: (a) the few highly developed and highly productive regions in the UK, the Netherlands, France and Germany will out-compete the numerous still poorly developed and low-productive regions in the Southern and Eastern EU member states; (b) these regions in the UK, the Netherlands, France and Germany will maintain their already minimized and highly productive employment at the expense of the member states with a relatively high agrarian employment, notably Poland and the Baltic states; (c) the sparsely populated regions of France, Denmark, Scotland, Ireland, Czech Republic and Germany will maintain their agrarian land use, at the expense of densely populated regions with relatively small holdings in Poland, Italy, Germany, Portugal and Spain. Policy makers and entrepreneurs can obtain an integrative view by taking into account the three prospect maps to support decision-making on long-term policies and sustainable investments in terms of the 3 Ps.     

长沙市低碳经济与土地集约利用的关系研究——基于Tapio脱钩理论的实证

为探明低碳经济与土地集约利用之间的关系,文章选取长沙市2002-2013年的社会经济数据,运用Tapio脱钩分析法,构建低碳经济与土地集约利用的脱钩模型进行实证研究,结果表明:长沙市2002-2013年低碳经济和土地集约利用由弱脱钩过渡到强脱钩,且近几年一直处于强脱钩状态,二者之间存在着显著的正相关关系,低碳经济促进了土地集约利用水平的提高,土地的集约利用也带动了低碳经济的发展,通过合理的政策引导及相应措施的采取,能够实现二者双赢的局面。     

基于生态足迹模型的湖北省农业资源开发评估

[目的]农业资源是人类生存发展的重要物质基础,对维持社会经济的可持续发展具有主导作用。评估湖北省农业资源的开发利用状况,为今后统筹资源利用和社会经济协调提供理论依据,以期提出可行性建议。[方法]采用生态足迹模型,计算了2009—2015年湖北省的人均生态足迹和人均生态容量及生态赤字,分析了该省各土地利用类型的人均生态足迹组分变化和各项农业生物资源和能源资源的开发状况,对资源开发总体形势展开了评价。[结果] 2009—2013年湖北省人均生态足迹逐年递增,2014和2015年明显降低,但人均生态足迹远高于人均生态容量。能源用地、建筑用地和草地构成了湖北省人均生态足迹的主体,且开发强度呈上升趋势。其中,玉米、小麦、稻谷、蔬菜以及各类畜产品和水产品,部分能源资源的开发强度增强。[结论]湖北省对农业资源的开发已超过生态系统的供给能力,严重威胁到生态系统的稳态,土地资源的承载力面临较大压力。全省需要从改变消费和生产方式,调整产业结构,优化土地利用类型,合理布局土地利用规划,发展高效农业资源利用模式等方面入手,提高农业资源的开发效率,降低人均生态足迹,维持生态容量。保证全省休闲农业与乡村生态旅游事业健康发展。     

Why is the issue of land ownership still of major concern in East Central European (ECE) transitional countries and particularly in Hungary?

In recent negotiations related to agriculture in connection with EU accession, the candidate countries asked for and received a period of 7–12 years exemption from EU rules with respect to the free movement of capital for the purpose of purchasing agricultural land. This means that, with some exceptions, foreigners will be prevented from buying land in most new member countries for a transitional period. The negotiating governments of the prospective new Member States claimed that a transitional period would be necessary because land prices are much lower in their countries than in the 15 EU ‘old’ countries. They claimed that without such an exemption, land in their countries would be bought cheaply by people of the ‘old’ EU countries, thus causing land scarcity for domestic farmers. However, statistical data do not support fears about land scarcity at present or in the future. The reasons for ‘keeping away’ foreigners from ‘national land’ are ideological rather than economic. Land continues to play a crucial role in rural-nationalist ideology, which has survived even after the disappearance of its bases, i.e. rural over-population and genuine land scarcity.     

Abolition of Raw Milk Quota in the European Union: A CGE Analysis at the Member Country Level

This paper discusses a generic approach to implementing production quotas in an applied general equilibrium framework. The quota rent is interpreted as additional primary factor payments. We analyse the abolition of the raw milk quota and the elimination of export subsidies for dairy products in the European Union at a member country level. The raw milk output increases in Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Spain, while it declines in Germany, Greece, Portugal and Sweden. The EU‐wide effect for raw milk production is an output increase of 3% and a price decline of 22%. To assess the robustness of the critical assumption about the raw milk quota rent we apply Arndt and Pearson's Systematic Sensitivity Analysis.     

Technology and the future bioeconomy

New discoveries in life sciences and the challenge of climate change are leading to the emergence of the bioeconomy where basic methods of advanced biology are applied to produce a wide array of products while also improving environmental quality. The emergence of the bioeconomy is a continuing evolutionary process of transition from systems of mining nonrenewable resources to farming renewable ones. This transition benefits from the modern tools of molecular biology that have expanded the human capacity to breed new organisms and utilize them to increase productivity in agriculture and fisheries as well as produce a wide array of products that were extracted in the past. This transition is leading to the integration of the agricultural sector with the energy and mineral sectors. The introduction of biotechnology has already improved the productivity of medicine as well as agriculture but, in the case of agriculture, has encountered resistance and regulatory constraints. The evolution of the bioeconomy requires continuous public investment in research and innovation as well as the establishment of a regulatory framework and financial incentives and institutions that would lead to continuous private sector investment in the development and commercialization of new products. One of the biggest challenges is the development of a regulatory framework that would control possible human and environmental externalities from new biotechnology products and, at the same time, not stifle innovation.     

四川省建设占用耕地与经济发展的脱钩分析

为分析四川经济发展与建设用地扩张之间的相互关系,本文基于脱钩理论的评价模式,加入建设占用耕地的强度评价.对四川省的建设占用耕地与经济发展分别进行总量脱钩评价和消耗强度脱钩评价,得出四川省在1999-2008年间,二者的关系从脱钩状态转向耦合状态.分析表明,在经济发展过程中,提高建设用地效率对于实现脱钩有重要作用,有效控...     

农业绿色水资源利用与农业经济增长脱钩关系研究

[目的]探究全国不同区域农业绿色水资源利用效率及其与农业经济增长间的脱钩关系,期望为农业绿色发展以及推动农业高质量发展提供决策参考。[方法]文章借助全局超效率SBM模型测算出农业绿色水资源利用效率,并依据灰水足迹理论计算出农业灰水足迹,应用脱钩理论及其脱钩程度判定标准,测算中国31个省域的农业绿色水资源利用与经济增长的脱钩程度。[结果]（1）我国的农业绿色水资源利用效率有待提升且存在地区差异,东部沿海地区农业绿色水资源利用效率较高,西部最低;（2）我国农业绿色水资源利用效率与农业经济增长的脱钩状态呈现阶段性并存在区域差异。2008—2015年四大区域普遍处于弱脱钩状态,但2016年之后,各个区域的二者脱钩状态开始呈现扩张性负脱钩,农业绿色水资源利用效率和农业经济增长的脱钩状态趋于缓和。[结论]应深入贯彻绿色发展理念并坚持因地制宜,合理应对区域水资源绿色利用和农业经济增长的关系。     

Economic evaluation of agricultural land to assess land use changes

Land-use models express the relationship between various driving forces of land-use changes and are increasingly employed in practical applications to predict possible future land uses. The relationship between the agricultural land market and land-use changes is often neglected in such models. The objective of this study is to assess the production values of agricultural land to be integrated in an operational land-use model with the aim to improve understanding of land-use changes in all 28 European Union countries. This economic evaluation of agricultural land is based on the Net Present Value (NPV) method, a method that aims at uncovering the operational production values of land rather than real estate market value. The scientific relevance of this work is the development of a comprehensive methodology for the economic evaluation of agricultural land uses in different EU countries, the integration of economic production values of land to the local suitability approach in the studied land-use model and the provision of a EU-wide database of the NPVs of agricultural land uses, including various energy crops.     

The competitiveness situation of the EU meat processing and beverage manufacturing sectors

The status of competitiveness for the two most important food and beverage manufacturing sectors (meat processing and beverage manufacturing) in 13 EU countries is analysed empirically, using 1995-2002 Eurostat data. After a review of earlier agribusiness competitiveness studies, an industrial competitiveness index is proposed as a composite measure for multidimensional economic performance, covering profitability, productivity and output growth. The index approach enables relative competitiveness comparisons across industries, countries and over time. The results show that during 1999-2002, as compared to 1995-1998, for both sectors overall competitiveness in real terms slightly increased. At the same time, overall competitiveness also seems to have converged slightly across countries, implying that sector performance has become more similar. However, the two country rankings differ considerably, as do the change patterns during the analysed period.