INFORMATION SYSTEMS FOR CROP MANAGEMENT: PROSPECTS AND PROBLEMS

The use of simulation models and expert systems in the provision of management information is considered with respect to cereal variety selection, together with the advantages and disadvantages that these can bring over more traditional methods of providing farmers with timely information. The integration of the tools of simulation and expert systems can help to overcome their respective limitations. However, considerable emphasis needs to be placed by researchers on the problem of adoption of such software by farmers and advisers if the benefits of such tools are to be even partially realised in the long term.     

农业的多功能性与农业功能分区

介绍了农业多功能性问题,将我国农业的主要功能分为农产品供给、就业和社会保障、文化以及生态4类,探讨了其各功能及障碍因素的内涵与地域类型划分,初步提出我国农业功能分区的方法和参考指标。     

INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION: THE SERVICES OF THE COMMONWEALTH BUREAU OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS

The need for an information service in agricultural economics and rural sociology is apparent from the quantity of publications. The Bureau has evolved in response to progressive recognition of this need and from earlier attempts to meet it. An information service must provide for awareness of contents of current publications, and for retrieval of information from accumulated stores. The Bureau's journal, World Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology Abstracts (WAERSA), is designed to provide these services mainly by citation of classified literature together with abstracts and author, subject and geographical indexes. Classification and subject indexing raise conceptual problems which are being handled by empirical methods. A work flow line is designed to deal smoothy with current world publications. Review articles provide complementary information. Editors and authors can facilitate the work of the Bureau by attention to form and substance of primary publications. The present situation is hardly appropriate for use of computer-based services except possibly for inter-disciplinary linkages. It is hoped that the Bureau will eventually operate in conjunction with a comprehensive international library, around which research, teaching, editorial and information services will interact.     

INFORMATION IN AGRICULTURAL PEST CONTROL

This paper develops a decision aid for agricultural producers regarding their pest scouting and spraying activities. The basic issue is how estimates of pest populations are computed and when the operator should act using that information. Scouting for pests, essentially a search operation, can lead to a change in the strategy for applying pesticide. An adaptive-scouting process is developed to unify the spraying and scouting activities. Some results, for the cotton-lygus bug system, are presented.     

提升农业可持续生产力的瓶颈问题与对策

[目的]解决长期以来我国农业生产力的提升主要围绕产量展开带来的资源问题、环境问题和生态问题,突破农业生产力提升的不可持续性和空间有限的困境,从而有效促进农业可持续发展。[方法]理论分析推导,实践归纳总结,政策引领分析。[结果]农业是与自然关系密切的产业,农业可持续生产力的提升也必须从资源、环境和生态这些方面寻找根本驱动力,紧紧围绕资源节约型、环境友好型、生态保育型"三型"农业展开。[结论]提升农业可持续生产力要突出3个创新:(1)体系创新,即用生物农业和物理农业构建高效生态农业体系,以逐步替代化学农业;(2)产业创新,即以建立在农业废弃物循环经济基础上的静脉产业促进生产农产品的动脉产业,形成高盈利静动脉产业联合体;(3)模式创新,即创建高效生态农业特效模式,为提升农业可持续生产力找到特效路径。     

CONSTANT-QUALITY PRICE INDICES FOR AGRICULTURAL INPUTS: TRACTORS AND FERTILISERS REVISITED

This paper employs the hedonic regression technique to construct constant-quality price indices and quality change indices for two agricultural inputs - tractors and fertilisers - over the period since World War II in the UK. The technique is described and related to productivity measurement in order to show its relevance for measuring price changes for inputs subject to technological improvement. Problems of application are discussed with reference to the two inputs. The constant-quality price indices derived for tractors and fertilisers are briefly compared with available ‘official’ price series     

RESEARCH ORIENTATIONS AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS FOR AGRICULTURAL ECONOMISTS

Division of agricultural economics research into behavioural vs. policy alternatives is proposed to reduce ambiguities implied by a positive vs normative division. The thesis is argued with reference to growth of the farm firm. A specific model is proposed. Brief comparisons are provided with alternatives in behavioural and policy applications.     

对科学的农业计划体系的认识和应用启示

科学的农业计划体系近20年的实践,提高了对该计划体系性质、作用的认识;表明该体系是检验各级干部执政能力强弱的试金石,是配置资源的重要手段,是改变“三农”面貌的有力手段,为可持续发展提供最佳途径等6项启示;确定了发挥该计划体系作用的4项措施。     

RESOURCE DEGRADATION ON AGRICULTURAL LAND: INFORMATION PROBLEMS,MARKET FAILURES AND GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION*

Information problems impede private contracting for the supply of many natural resource services. They are also likely to prevent the government identifying and achieving optimum levels of natural resource degradation on agricultural land. In particular, the distributional impacts of government intervention create incentives for strategic distortions of information by interested parties. Resource conservation measures which impose costs on beneficiaries, and which provide positive incentives for farmers to monitor resource degradation, may be superior because they reduce information problems.     

PRIVATISING THE PRODUCTION OF KNOWLEDGE: PROMISE AND PITFALLS FOR AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH AND EXTENSION

In the absence of some form of government intervention, knowledge is a classic public good which will be under-produced because of lack of price excludability. Government intervention may take the form of establishing intellectual property rights, or other means of shielding knowledge-based innovations from imitation or copying. Such intervention offers the prospect of 'privatising' the production of knowledge in the sense that a certain level of private knowledge production may become profitable if producers can appropriate at least part of the benefits of R&D. However, publicly funded R&D or extension still can 'crowd out' private knowledge production by charging lower prices. The principal finding of this study is that such 'crowding out' behaviour may be efficient in the sense of being potentially Pareto superior even if it is at the expense of public funding for so called 'orphan' areas of knowledge production which are privately unprofitable. The reason why conventional conclusions about privatisation and 'crowding out' of private goods need not apply to rural research and extension is that private goods are both rival in consumption and price excludable, while knowledge is intrinsically non rival in consumption even if it can be made price excludable.     

中国农业文化遗产的空间分布特征及影响因素分析

[目的]为更加全面掌握中国农业文化遗产资源空间分布规律及其影响因素,地理信息系统(GIS)作为定量化和可视化的分析方法具有重要意义。[方法]该研究尝试以中国境内已被全球重要农业文化遗产或中国重要农业文化遗产名录收录的62处农业文化遗产为数据源,通过ArcGIS 10.3的空间分析工具对农业文化遗产进行空间特征分析和核密度估计,并结合农业文化遗产的地域特征研究影响农业文化遗产空间分布的因素。[结果](1)农业文化遗产呈带状分布、组团状分布,分布不均衡,总体空间分布类型属聚集型;(2)农业文化遗产地域间差异明显,主要集中于我国中部和东部,长江、黄河流域内多而流域外少,沿海多而内陆少,西南部多于西北部和东北部;(3)农业文化遗产的空间分布聚集区域有5个,主要以京津、浙东、陇东、黔东、滇西为核心;(4)影响农业文化遗产空间分布的主要因素是独特的地域资源、差异化的民族特点、复杂的文化生态环境。[结论]在开展农业文化遗产地保护工作时,地理信息系统的引入将为农业文化遗产地保护提供精准决策依据和数据支撑,未来需要深入发掘地理信息系统的数字化、信息化、可视化技术在农业文化遗产信息管理、资源评估、保护规划的运用深度和广度。     

THE EVOLUTION OF INFORMATION SOURCES AND THE USE OF INFORMATION-TECHNOLOGY IN AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS

The paper reviews developments in bibliograhical, statistical and market information sources over the last 25 years, particularly since the application of the computer to information processing and dissemination. It concentrates on bibliographical sources: the evolution of WAERSA from a quarterly abstract journal to a monthly one, now also accessible on-line, as well as discussing some of the other major bibliographical sources, notably the AGECON file on USDA's AGRICOLA (formerly the Bibliography of Agricultural Economics), FAO's AGRINDEX, a title-only service available as a monthly journal and on-line, the Bibliography on Agricultural Marketing from FAO's marketing division, and the information service provided by ESCA. Different methods of ‘packaging’ information are also mentioned, including regular profiles on particular topics (SDI), ‘state-of-the-arts’ reviews, and ‘start’ reports. The paucity of adequate source guides specially tailored to the needs of agricultural economists is discussed. Finally, the availability of farming and market information through videotex is described. A plea is made for greater co-operation between providers and users of information, better knowledge of and guides to sources, and for user education.     

北京市农业资源管理信息系统建设的问题及对策研究

[目的]为积极开展分区域农业资源管理信息系统建设,探索信息化管理区划资源的有效途径,更好地实现北京市各类农业资源的获取、处理、传播和合理利用。[方法]文章结合多年的实践工作,通过对北京市农业资源管理信息系统建设内容和功能的描述,指出北京建设农业资源管理信息系统面临的问题并提出对策建议。[结果]问题主要是:对农业资源信息数据重视程度不够,对农业资源信息数据投入不足,农业资源信息分散且缺乏有效的开发整合机制,在技术层面存在系统对接和需求方面的问题,人才队伍建设亟待加强,法规制度建设滞后。[结论]提出了农业资源管理信息系统建设措施,加强政府在农业资源管理信息系统建设中的主导作用,加大资金投入力度及对资金投入的监管和引导,整合各方资源,充实农业资源数据的完整,与互联网平台和云数据平台进行对接同时深化服务功能,满足目标人群需求,加快建设高水平人才队伍,制定和完善相应的制度规范和法规政策。     

农业科技园区规划关键技术方法与实证经验

［目的］农业科技园区建设符合乡村振兴战略的发展需求。农业科技园区规划采用的关键技术方法是否规范化对新时期园区规划的前瞻性和科学性具有重要作用。从城乡规划学、地理信息科学、农业科技、环境科学、大数据等多学科交叉角度围绕农业科技园区的规划流程、编制内容、技术方法等过程开展关键技术与方法优化研究,为新时期农业科技园区规划提供新思路和标准范式。［方法］基于农业科技园区相关国家政策和学术文献的梳理和研究,结合农业科技园区规划实践经验,集成应用城乡规划、农业大数据分析、可视化等技术,优化园区规划方法。［结果］将规划编制分为前期准备阶段、规划编制阶段、规划评估阶段,从规划过程、规划编制内容体系、技术方法等多维度提出了农业科技园区规划编制方法,建立了农业科技园区规划编制技术方法体系。［结论］提升了规划编制的科学性和可操作性,阐明了规划编制技术方法体系的实证经验,强化了规划科学基础并提升了规划技术水平。     

农民负担现状及深层原因分析

阐述了不同地区,不同收入层次农民的负担状况和农民负担的深层原因。提示取消原农业税,农业特产税,耕地占用税和屠宰税,代之为“农村土地税 农业增值税”的税收模式。     

大丰市农业资源持续高效利用模式及做法

在介绍大丰市草堰镇堰北实验区基本概况的基础上,分析了该区农业资源持续高效利用的四种模式和实验区所取得的经济、社会和生态效益,并总结了实验区建设的五点经验。