Assessment and improvement of the efficiency of nitrogen use on commercial dairy farms

Nine dairy farmers participated in a project which ran over a four year period from 1997 to 2001, with the aim of improving nitrogen use efficiency (NE) and reducing nitrogen surpluses. Results from systems research and the disadvantages of large nitrogen losses and low NE to the economics of the farm business and the environment were outlined and possible mitigation strategies were discussed with the farmers during visits by a dairy consultant. Initial nitrogen use efficiency (nitrogen output/nitrogen input) ranged from 10% to 23% and nitrogen surplus from 259 to 785 kg N ha¹. During the project nitrogen efficiency improved by an average of 5.4% and nitrogen surpluses reduced by an average of 186 kg N ha¹. The largest changes in nitrogen output per hectare were due to changes in stocking rate rather than changes in milk yield per cow or milk protein content. Nitrogen input was dominated by nitrogen fertilizer input, which for farms applying more than 150 kg N ha¹accounted for between 41% and 85% of total nitrogen input. Reduction in mineral nitrogen fertilizer use was the main way that farmers improved nitrogen efficiency and reduced nitrogen surpluses.     

安徽省乡镇工业环境污染分析

伴随农村经济的快速发展,乡镇工业也得到充分发展,成为农村经济的支柱之一,但同时带来的环境污染也不容忽视：阐述了安徽乡镇工业环境污染的状况,分析了其污染趋势,并提出一些控制污染的措施方法。     

山东半岛经济增长与大气环境污染关系的实证研究

论文选取了1981年-2013年山东省环境与经济数据,通过建立经济增长与环境污染水平计量模型—环境库兹涅茨曲线(EKC),分析山东省大气环境污染与经济增长之间的相关性水平。结果表明,山东省二氧化硫排放量的EKC形态为倒U型。粉尘排放量则有N型曲线的形态,而工业废气的排放量随着人均收入水平的提高呈现单调增长的形态,虽有下降趋势,但并不明显。可见,经济的增长虽然在一定程度上会改善环境质量,但并不能完全的解决环境污染问题。所以,若想从根本上改善环境污染的现状,不能一味的追求经济增长,需要多方面的措施与政策相结合进行调控,从而达到经济与环境"共赢"的局面。     

Comparing the environmental impacts of pasture-based and confinement-based dairy systems in Nova Scotia (Canada) using life cycle assessment

A life cycle assessment (LCA) of dairy systems in Nova Scotia was conducted to compare environmental impacts of typical pasture and confinement operations. Data on material and energy inputs and outputs of these systems were obtained from local researchers and industry, and life cycle impacts in 11 categories were quantified. Use of concentrate feeds, N fertilizers, transport fuels and electricity were dominant contributors to environmental impacts. Somewhat surprisingly, grazing cows for five months per year (typical of pasture systems in Nova Scotia) had little effect on overall environmental impact. Scenario modelling suggests, however, that prolonged grazing is potentially beneficial. Compared with total confinement, a seven-month grazing scenario performed better in seven of the environmental impact categories evaluated with greatest potential improvements associated with acidification potential, ozone depletion potential, human toxicity and fresh water ecotoxicity. In contrast, land use was the only category in which an increased reliance on pasture is predicted to result in a marked increase in environmental impact.     

Economic analysis of the impact of adopting herd health control programs on smallholder dairy farms in Central Thailand

The economic impact of adopting herd health programs for mastitis and reproduction by small-scale dairy producers of Central Thailand was assessed using a policy analysis matrix (PAM). Following a reduction in the incidence of bovine disease on adopter farms, an increase in private net profits is observed. More importantly the social costs of supporting dairy farmers is reduced; the PAM effective protection coefficient was reduced by 35% for mastitis program adopters and by 44% for reproductive program adopters, indicating improved social efficiency of dairy policy. Other indicators of efficiency and policy implications are discussed.     

一次干电池中Hg对环境的污染及其处理方法分析

随着一次干电池消费量的日益扩大,其对环城的污染日益显现出来;从Hg污染的角度,分析了其迁移转化规律;提出了具有针对性的治理方案。     

水污染对土壤动物群落结构的影响

以芜湖市经济技术开发区为例,通过对比的方法。对5种不同水污染所造成的土壤动物群落结构的变化进行了取样调查,在5种生境中共取10个样方,获得土壤动物1333个。其中优势类群为螨、弹尾、蚯蚓和线蚓;由于水污染源的不同,各生境土壤动物的种类和教量也随之发生变化,土壤动物群落的多样性、均匀性、优势度几个重要指标存在很大差异。垂直分布出现逆分布现象。     

Unawareness in environmental protection: The case of light pollution from traffic

New information is often emphasized as a basis of effective and scientifically sound environmental policy and management. However, outdated or incorrect information is not automatically nor instantly replaced by new insights. This article focuses on the various ways environmental information can be unintentionally left with insufficient attention or purposefully neglected. Energy-related emissions caused by road traffic in Finland are used as an illustrative example and light pollution caused by artificial lighting is identified as an emerging issue that has gained especially low recognition in the environmental agenda. Four different reasons for this lack of recognition are discussed: recognized unawareness, false awareness, deliberate unawareness and concealed awareness. Paying attention to light pollution is important because of various ecological, socio-cultural and economic effects but also because implementing measures aimed for reducing light pollution create possibilities for alleviating other social and environmental problems in transport and land use policies.     

小流域水体污染对周边环境影响研究——以花溪河流域为例

流域水体污染问题目前已成为影响区域经济发展的一个热点问题;以花溪河流域重庆理工大学段为例,通过实地踏勘、问卷调查等方式,分析水体污染对周边环境的影响,并提出改善水质的措施;结果表明,沿线工业污染、农业污染和生活污染是导致该流域污染日趋严重的主要原因;花溪河水体污染对周边居民健康及经济发展带了严重影响;应从环保意识、执法力度及科学规划等方面着手。     

临沂市经济增长与环境污染水平的经济计量模型研究

通过对1986～2004年临沂市环境经济数据的经济计量模型研究,发现该市工业"三废"排放与经济增长之间的拟合曲线并不完全符合典型环境库兹涅茨曲线的特征。经济增长除与工业废水的拟合曲线属于典型倒"U"型状右侧部分外,与工业废气排放量和工业固体废弃物产生量的拟合曲线分别呈现出倒"U"型曲线左侧部分的特征,而且3条曲线整个过程并未出现转折点。主要原因是与临沂市工业发展仍处于初、中级阶段相吻合的,除工业废水污染得到较好的治理外,工业废气和工业固体废弃物污染水平仍然呈不断加重的趋势。     

Projected impacts of increased uptake of source control mitigation measures on agricultural diffuse pollution emissions to water and air

A multi-pollutant modelling framework for England and Wales is described. This includes emissions of nitrate, phosphorus and sediment to water and ammonia, methane and nitrous oxide to air, and has been used to characterise baseline (no uptake of on-farm measures) and business-as-usual (BAU) annual pollutant losses, comparing these with the loss under a range of new policies aimed at increasing the uptake of relevant source control measures to 95% across England and Wales. Model outputs, including uncertainty ranges, evaluated using national water and air quality data layers have been summarised at both farm (Robust Farm Type) and water management catchment (WMC) scale. Nationally, across all farm types, the median annual reductions in pollutant losses under the new scenario, relative to BAU in 2010, were predicted to range between 9 and 16% for nitrate, 13–37% for phosphorus, 12–21% for sediment, 2–57% for methane and 10–17% for nitrous oxide. For ammonia, the range was −2–28%, indicating the potential for pollution swapping and an increase in ammonia emissions under scenarios designed to reduce nitrogen flux to waters. Increased uptake of pollution source control measures would result in a wide range of annual total (capital and operational) costs (per farm) for the major farm types, with median estimates ranging from £635 yr⁻¹ (Less Favourable Areas (LFA) with grazing livestock) to £15,492 yr⁻¹ (Cereals) in Nitrate Vulnerable Zone (NVZ) areas, compared with a range of £23 yr⁻¹ to £13,484 yr⁻¹ for the same respective farm types in non-NVZ areas. The estimated median annual load reductions for all WMCs relative to BAU, were predicted to be 16% for nitrate, 20% for phosphorus, 16% for sediment, 16% for ammonia, 15% for methane and 18% for nitrous oxide. These predictions suggest that almost perfect (95% uptake) implementation of source control measures will not deliver substantial improvements in pollutant emissions.     

山西绛县土壤发育的环境因素与小流域治理研究

从土壤发生学观点出发，把土壤作为自然——经济的综合体进行分析研究，分析了绛县土壤形成发育的各方面环境因素，并结合小流域治理，提出综合整治和开发的具体生态模式和措施，为地方政府农业生态建设规划提供依据。     

Economic and environmental analysis of buffer zones as an instrument to reduce ammonia loads to nature areas

In this paper, we present a Danish case study of the effectiveness and costs of protecting nitrogen poor nature areas vulnerable to ammonia eutrophication by appointing buffer zones around them. Buffer zones are found to be an important step towards sustainable co-existence of intensive livestock production and nature conservation when local sources are important contributors to eutrophication. Depending on the deposition patterns, buffer zones may be cost-effective compared to re-establishment of eutrophicated locations, but a need for further model analysis is also identified.     

CAP payments and spatial diversity in cereal crops: An analysis of Italian farms

Agricultural biodiversity conservation has been recognized as a fundamental resource for the maintenance of ecological and economic functions. In this paper, we test the hypothesis that the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has an impact on crop diversity decisions of farm managers. In so doing, we allow the diversity decision to depend on a rich set of economic and agro-ecological variables, such as prices of the most common cereal varieties, and agro-ecological and socio-economic characteristics at farm and regional level. Using a panel dataset over the period 2004–2010, we compare the results obtained from pooled-OLS and dynamic panel GMM estimators. The empirical analysis shows the existence of a positive relationship between CAP payments and diversity. In addition, decoupling subsidies from production seems to have a positive effect on biodiversity.     

The influence of management decisions and external factors on the dairy farmer's environmentally friendly farming objective: the Green Dairy experience

Ten dairy farms participated in an EU project that aimed to improve nitrogen use and assist with the adoption of more environmentally friendly farming practices. Nitrogen use and management decisions were monitored during 2003, 2004 and 2005. Nine farms improved nitrogen use (nitrogen output relative to input) in Year 2. Four farms maintained or further improved nitrogen use in Year 3. Management decisions and external factors that improved nitrogen use were increasing farm milk output, adopting best management practices for nitrogen use, growing forage crops that required less nitrogen than grass and favourable crop production conditions that rendered large quantities of good quality forage. Decisions that worsened nitrogen use were increasing cow numbers without sufficient management support, the late start of supplementary feeding when grass quality declined, setting the target yield too high, pursuing a higher milk price, less palatable silage and disease. Sufficient slurry storage is essential to improving nitrogen use. The savings from lower nitrogen input and the revenue from milk were in no proportion to the investments required for additional slurry storage, however. The farmers did adopt environmentally friendly practices, but only to the degree their businesses were able to sustain.