Variations in ecosystem services in response to paddy expansion in the Sanjiang Plain,Northeast China

The ecosystem of the Sanjiang Plain in China has dramatically changed in the past four decades. This study investigated the history of paddy field expansion in the Sanjiang Plain and discovered the ecosystem service variations in response to paddy expansion. Integrating a series of Landsat images, we obtained the paddy expansion history from 1976 to 2015. Then, we calculated ecosystem service values (ESVs) to estimate the ecosystem service variations caused by paddy expansion in the Sanjiang Plain. The results indicate that the paddy area increased from 404,789–2,598,449 ha during 1976–2015, leading to a decline in the total ecosystem service values by 11288.04 million dollars. The largest decline in ESVs in response to paddy expansion was caused by wetland reclamation (9998.54 million dollars). Apart from agricultural products and gas regulation functions, the ESVs provided by other functions all showed a declining trend. Paddy expansion in the Sanjiang Plain increased agricultural product function at the expense of the decline of other functions. In future management practices, the rational allocation of water resources and paddy distribution are necessary in order to achieve sustainable development of both water resources and agricultural production. Some suggestions including coculture systems, restoring habitats for aquatic species, farm management that fosters biodiversity in paddy fields are provided for future sustainability.     

A meta-analysis of intercropping in Africa: impacts on crop yield,farmer income,and integrated pest management effects

Poverty and hunger in Africa are prevalent and will increase in absolute terms with population growth and continued land degradation. Therefore, there is a need for sustainable agricultural strategies, such as conservation agriculture (CA) and integrated pest management (IPM). Among CA practices, intercropping holds the promise of providing benefits to smallholders through increased crop yields and income as well as improved resource use. We review intercropping’s effects on crop yield, income, and output of IPM practices in Africa. On average, intercropping increases crop yields by 23% and gross income by 172 USD/ha, but effects vary significantly depending on management practices and agro-ecological factors. There was no evidence that yields and gross income for intercropping treatments increase when leguminous intercropping combinations, minimum/reduced tillage, pesticides, or fertilizers were utilized. Dual use of herbicides and intercropping practices garnered 1442 USD/ha more in gross income and yielded 1422 kg/ha more compared to those in conventionally managed fields, signifying the positive influence supplemental inputs can have on intercropping’s effects. Although IPM practices increased yields by 20%, on average, IPM systems integrated with intercropping yielded 24% less than IPM systems that did not. This meta-analysis indicates that intercropping is an advantageous sustainable agricultural practice, but that its effective implementation would depend on considering other factors such as adequate control of competing vegetation. There is a clear need for more scientific studies which examine intercropping’s role in complex sustainable agricultural systems, in order to understand its effects in differential environmental and socioeconomic situations and to optimize the practice’s transfer and benefits.     

Farmland conversion to non-agricultural uses in the US and Canada: current impacts and concerns for the future

Conversion of farmland to non-agricultural uses presents a challenge to future food production and ecosystem services in US and Canada. Expansions of housing, transportation, industry, retail sales, schools and other developments are driving land out of farming. In the US there is annual conversion of 500,000 ha away from food and fibre production systems. Coupled with 1% annual population increase, this will reduce today's 0.6 ha per person to 0.3 ha by 2050. Canada has more land and smaller population, but farmland losses are occurring in fertile areas near coasts and in level valleys where highest quality land is located. Current rates of increase in agricultural productivity will not compensate for this land loss. Compared to US, there are more specific tools and legislation at the provincial level in Canada that provide opportunities for controlling sprawl. Important in both countries is general lack of awareness and concern about loss of productive farmland, a situation that could be improved through education. Stimulating collective understanding of this growing problem and providing viable solutions could provide the basis for national policy strategies to promote and assure sustainable food systems for the future and enhance the capacity to maintain vital ecosystem services.     

A comparative multidimensional evaluation of conservation agriculture systems: A case study from a Mediterranean area of Southern Italy

To avoid the current paradoxes of the global agro-food system it is necessary to define and implement a viable agricultural sustainable model, combining satisfaction of food needs and land preservation. A possible solution can be found in a holistic production system consistent with a sustainable development model, designed to satisfy diverse “local” economies. The conservation agriculture (CA) could be a part of this model, as it includes a set of best practices available to preserve agrarian soil and its biodiversity. Briefly, we cover the CA background in Europe followed by the evaluation of its impact in terms of private/public interest, using the sustainability’s metric.To test the viability of a model based on CA in “local conditions”, we compare economic performance of different conservation practices (i.e. minimum and no tillage) to that of conventional agriculture in a typical Mediterranean environment – Collina Materana – in Southern Italy (Basilicata region). Our findings suggest that: i) CA can actually be a viable alternative to conventional systems; ii) in Mediterranean agricultural areas CA has yield advantages especially during dry years, when conservation techniques increase water supply to crops; iii) public support is needed to direct farming choices in fact without financial incentives these practices would be not widely accepted and diffused; iv) European policy makers have to recognized the positive benefits of CA and pay them as ecosystem services in the framework of Good Agricultural Environmental Conditions and the present CAP subsidies.     

Profitability and opportunity of conservation agriculture in acid savannah grasslands of Laos

In north-eastern Laos, the savannah grasslands of the Plain of Jars cover vast areas of potentially cultivable land. However, soil acidity, low inherent fertility, and the absence of alternatives to tillage represent significant constraints to the development of sustainable smallholder agriculture. Our objective was to evaluate the potential for conservation agriculture (CA) to enhance soil productivity and farming system profitability. A three-year rotation of rice/maize/soybean was tested under three fertilization levels and four agricultural systems: one conventional tillage-based (CT) system and three CA systems based on no-tillage with cover crops. After four cropping seasons, our results show that, compared with CT, CA systems led to similar-to-higher grain production, similar-to-higher profits, higher opportunity of livestock system intensification, and higher labour productivity regardless of fertilization levels. While CA represents a relevant alternative to current practices, our results suggest that its contribution to the emergence of a sustainable smallholder agriculture is conditioned by broader institutional transformations, including the enrolment of local manufacturers and traders for deploying no-till implements and seed market channels for cover crops, long-term public support to maintain active research and technical mentoring to farmers, and possibly the integration of ecosystem services in agricultural policy.     

黑龙江垦区种养业生产系统可持续发展评价

[目的]黑龙江垦区作为中国农业先进生产力的代表地区,如何促进其农业可持续发展,已成为热点研究内容。[方法]文章运用能值分析和敏感性分析方法,以黑龙江垦区种养业生产系统为研究对象,综合分析了2009—2018年该系统能值投入的动态变化过程,并评价该系统可持续发展水平。[结果] 2009—2018年黑龙江农垦种养业生产系统的能值投入呈现“增长—平稳”的趋势。2018年能值投入为11.28×1021sej,不可更新的工业辅助能、可更新的环境资源是能值投入的主要来源,占能值投入总量的64.20%。其中,单位产值能值投入量为1.47×1015sej/万元,能值产出率为2.00,环境负载率为1.05,可持续发展指数为1.91。[结论]黑龙江垦区种养业生产系统的可持续发展水平相对较高,但近年来经济效益有所下降,较为依赖工业产品投入。因此,建议黑龙江垦区开展系统性研究,建立机械化生产定位观测站,加强农机具管理与应用,优化柴油和氮肥投入量,明确种养业可持续发展路径,形成区域特色的循环农业发展模式。     

Further participatory adaptation is required for community leaders to champion conservation agriculture in Africa

There is a recognized need for the participation of local communities in designing and implementing agricultural interventions for the sustainable intensification in smallholder systems. This study examines the perspectives of local community leaders towards the widely promoted, but not widely adopted, practice of Conservation Agriculture (CA) in African smallholder systems. Perceptions from 47 community leaders (both from traditional local authorities and farmer organizations) across six African countries are documented regarding how CA matches the wants, needs and capabilities of farmers in their communities. While community leaders generally perceived CA as potentially beneficial, they also indicated that CA is not currently perceived as feasible within their communities and hence has limited relevance. Three key themes were identified that limit both CA use and sustainable intensification more generally: [1] a perceived reluctance of farmers to engage with the community platform as part of a higher input, market-oriented production system; [2] informational constraints due to non-functional exchange mechanisms; and [3] a lack of local adaptation of CA underscored by the persistence of top-down, linear research and extension approaches. Through greater understanding of local perspectives, a clearer picture emerges of the need for greater participatory engagement and local adaptation if sustainable intensification of African smallholder agricultural systems is to be achieved.     

Semi‐Subsistence Farming: An Elusive Concept Posing Thorny Policy Questions

The massive expansion of semi‐subsistence farming in the European Union after the Eastern enlargements poses a real challenge to rural development. The problems of semi‐subsistence farms are low cash incomes and incidence of poverty, sub‐optimal use of land and labour, a lack of capital and poor contribution to rural growth. However, they play an important welfare function in some rural areas in Europe; they manage more than 11 million ha of agricultural land and deliver ecosystem services. The Common Agricultural Policy will have to accommodate this now widespread production system, through existing or new policy packages. Particularly important is support for commercialisation to incentivise and smooth the transition to commercial agriculture, and agri‐environmental payments to compensate the semi‐subsistence farmers for the provision of ecosystem services.     

Tidal river management for sustainable agriculture in the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta: Implication for land use policy

The tidal river management (TRM) approach is an indigenous management practice in the Southwest part of the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta in Bangladesh. This approach has a high potential for extending area under agriculture with a positive impact on sustainable production and consequently on sustainable land use planning. Until recently, no studies provide a quantitative assessment on agricultural benefits of TRM operation. In this study, we aim to assess the benefits of TRM operation by using innovative approaches such as comparing land use change, agricultural production and economic cost-benefit analysis for two scenarios (with and without TRM) in the Hari-Teka-Bhadra catchment. We found that the financial benefit of TRM operation was 85.5 million US dollar per year from the agriculture sector. The results are useful for promoting land use policy through TRM approach in achieving greater sustainability in the area.     

Agriculture, pesticides and the ecosystem

Economists have a good understanding of intra-economic interdependence and a mature methodology of modelling it. Ecologists focus on the complex and sensitive interactions of species in ecosystems. This paper’s objective is to suggest a new micro-foundation of ecosystem analysis based on economic methodology, to integrate the analyses of the ecosystem and the economy and focus on the interface of ecosystem-economy relations. Agriculture forms a major part of this interface. The basic assumption is that in the short run the individual organisms of all species behave as if they optimise their costly offensive and defensive activities given other organisms’ activities (Nash-behaviour).We consider an ecosystem with three species in a unidirectional food chain: buzzards feed on mice, mice feed on grain, and grain feeds on solar energy. A fourth species, humans, also feeds on grain. Humans intervene in the ecosystem in various ways. They can grow grain by using seed, farm labour, pesticides and possibly nature conservation measures to maintain buzzard habitat. Short-run ecosystem equilibrium is characterised, and it is shown, in particular, how this equilibrium depends on farming activities. We then link this ecosystem model to a simple model of an agricultural economy. Both systems are solved for equilibrium simultaneously. From an economic perspective the ecosystem induces positive and negative externalities in agricultural production and in consumer ‘green’ preferences.The inefficiencies of the competitive economy are identified and some possibilities to restore efficiency through corrective taxes or subsidies are briefly discussed. We also outline how short-run equilibria are connected through ecosystem stock-flow relationships. Due to the complexity of the inter-temporal analysis, the resulting ecosystem dynamics cannot be characterised in general analytical terms. It is a topic for future research to study the dynamics in numerical analysis to understand under which conditions the joint ecological and economic system is driven toward a (sustainable) steady state.     

种养一体化循环农业园区的接口技术及其生态经济效益分析

随着种植业和养殖业规模的不断扩大,种养一体规模化、集约化将成为今后华北平原农业发展的必然趋势。针对种植业和养殖业之间缺乏协调互补的"种养分离"模式造成种养系统间物质循环割裂,大量资源浪费、能量高耗和环境污染等问题,以华北平原河北省某种养一体化生态循环农业园区为例,采用实地调查和实证分析的方法,系统分析了该循环模式种植、养殖、沼气和有机肥发酵、饲料加工和秸秆青贮模块组成、相关接口技术体系以及对农业种植-饲料加工-生猪养殖-屠宰加工-销售和农业种植(饲草、秸秆)-肉牛、奶牛养殖以及养殖废弃物-沼气发酵-沼渣沼液-有机肥-蔬菜种植等多条循环链构成的物质资源循环再生模式进行了效益分析。结果表明:秸秆加工饲料、沼气发酵和有机肥还田等关键"接口"技术是物质循环和能量流动的核心,提高了系统的运行效率;该模式的运行实现了产品年总收入4 314万元,节约化肥及用电成本1 796.8万元,减排温室气体65 114.53t CO2-eq·a-1,解决了面源污染、资源损耗等问题,具有明显的生态经济效益。该园区循环农业模式对华北平原区域农业可持续发展具有引领和示范带动作用,可为建立本区域农业废弃物高效利用的循环农业生产模式及相关技术体系提供科学依据和政策建议。     

An assessment of the economic and environmental potential of biomass production in an agricultural region

The establishment of deep-rooted perennial species and their processing for biomass-based products such as renewable energy can have benefits for both local and global scale environmental objectives. In this study, we assess the potential economic viability of biomass production in the South Australian River Murray Corridor and quantify the resultant benefits for local and global scale environmental objectives. We model the spatial distribution of economically viable biomass production in a Geographic Information System and quantify the model sensitivity and uncertainty using Monte Carlo analysis. The total potentially viable area for biomass production under the Most Likely Scenario is 360,728 ha (57.7% of the dryland agricultural area), producing over 3 million tonnes of green biomass per annum, with a total Net Present Value over 100 years of A$ 88 million. The salinity in the River Murray could be reduced by 2.65 EC (μS/cm) over a 100-year timeframe, and over 96,000 ha of land with high wind erosion potential could be stabilised over a much shorter period. With sufficient generating capacity, our Most Likely Scenario suggests that economically viable biomass production could reduce carbon emissions by over 1.7 million tonnes per annum through the production of renewable energy and a reduced reliance on coal-based electricity generation. Our analyses suggest that biomass production is a potentially viable alternative agricultural system that can have substantial local scale environmental benefits with complimentary global scale benefits for climate change mitigation.     

Agriculture and land use: Demand for and supply of agricultural commodities,characteristics of the farming and food industries,and implications for land use in the UK

Agriculture is the largest type of land use in the UK, accounting for about 77 per cent of the total area, compared with an average 50 per cent for the EU27. But in common with most high-income countries, agriculture's contribution to UK GDP and employment is low, at about 0.5 and 1.8 per cent, respectively, although the regional importance of the sector (and its associated food and farming industries) varies considerably.Of the 17.5 million ha used for agriculture, about 28 per cent is allocated to crops, and 67 per cent is grassland. The grassland includes 4.4 million ha of sole-owned rough grazing and 1.1 million ha of common land in mainly upland “disadvantaged areas,” primarily used for beef and sheep production. This has a major influence on land use, especially in the northern and western parts of the UK.From the 1930s until the mid-1980s, UK policy promoted increases in agricultural productivity to feed the nation from its own resources. An array of income and production support measures encouraged intensive farming, including a relative switch to arable farming in eastern areas. Since the early-1990s, policies have sought simultaneously to make UK agriculture internationally competitive and environmentally benign. These policies, evident in the Agenda 2000 Reforms of the Common Agricultural Policy, point the way forward for the future. It is likely that a greater distinction will emerge between policies to protect natural resources and enhance the flow of non-market ecosystem services from rural land, and agriculture and food policies intended to encourage an appropriate proportion of national food requirements to be met from domestic sources.It seems likely that over the next 50 years, the UK's land area will be required to deliver an increasingly diverse range of private and public goods to meet growing human needs and aspirations. This will require a balance of policy-driven goals and market forces. It will also need a much improved understanding of the trade-offs between food production and environmental goals and of the institutional arrangements required to achieve a balance of economic, social and environmental outcomes.     

The importance of managing the costs and benefits of bird activity for agricultural sustainability

The behaviour of wild animal species in agricultural landscapes may confer benefits to growers through the provision of ecosystem services (e.g. control of agricultural pests) or inflict costs through direct or indirect damage to crops or livestock. The literature on the costs that species inflict or the benefits they provide has evolved largely independently with few attempts to synthesize information across studies. However, managing cost–benefit trade-offs to maximize agricultural productivity while ensuring native species conservation is vital to the future of ecologically sustainable agriculture. Using birds as a case study, we review the two bodies of literature on the costs and benefits attributed to bird activity in agricultural landscapes. In each case, we examine the major types of costs (e.g. consumption of crops) and benefits (e.g. pollination of crops) and assess approaches to quantifying these in terms of changes in crop yield or monetary value. We then synthesize this information to examine options for balancing cost–benefit trade-offs through coordinated and integrated management strategies that consider all aspects of species activity in agricultural landscapes. Employing strategies that successfully balance costs and benefits is fundamental to future food security and agricultural sustainability.     

浙江省生态循环农业发展实践与启示

发展循环农业是实现农业清洁生产、农业资源可持续利用的有效手段,也是解决资源与环境问题的根本途径,是推动农村经济发展的必然选择。浙江省整建制推进现代生态循环农业,先后建成现代生态循环农业示范区100个、示范主体1 000个、生态牧场1万个以上,基本形成了"主体小循环、园区中循环、区域大循环"的生态循环农业发展格局。研究依据现代农业发展理念,依照经营主体类型、生产规模、产业组织形式、生产环节物质流程与利益共享机制,结合区域辐射范围和产业融合特点,在实地调研的基础上,系统梳理循环农业发展实践模式,将浙江省循环农业分为经营主体小循环、园区生态中循环和区域闭合大循环3个层面,进一步探讨和凝练循环农业发展内在机理、运动规律和实践经验,阐明这三类循环模式的形成机制、发展动力与价值链接,选择典型案例剖析了循环产业链条的链接形式、物质流程与价值增值的环节,在此基础上,进一步提出加强产业融合、促进循环农业发展的约束与激励机制等对策建议。     

Feasibility of conservation agriculture in the Amu Darya River Lowlands,Central Asia

Human-driven land degradation threatens economic and environmental sustainability of irrigated agricultural production such as in Central Asia. Many current challenges can be eased by implementing Conservation Agriculture (CA), with however unknown financial consequences under the predominating irrigated conditions. We applied the linear programming to compare costs and benefits of four CA production systems, which are cotton-based rotation systems including (i) cotton-cotton and (ii) cotton-wheat-maize rotations under conventional tillage (CT), as well as (iii) cotton-cover crop-cotton, and (iv) cotton-wheat-maize rotations with mulch cover (crop residue retaining) and both rotations under permanent-bed planting (PB) with minimum tillage. All systems were subjected to six levels of land quality and a series of crop pricing schemes. Data were extracted from empirical research on CA in Uzbekistan, complemented with data on input and output prices from surveys. The findings underpinned the financial advantages of more diversified cropping systems (cotton-wheat-maize) over the crop monoculture (cotton-cotton-based system). Crop cultivation on marginal land was unprofitable under CT. In contrast, crop production under PB could generate profits even on croplands with a lower productivity level considered. It is argued that PB with crop residue retaining and applied in cotton-wheat-maize rotation shows most promise for improving crop yields and income.     

Incentivizing sustainable rangeland practices and policies in Colombia’s Orinoco region

Livestock grazing, along with agriculture, are key drivers of deforestation and land degradation that subsequently affect ecosystem service provision in the tropics. Although environmental and agricultural policies may curtail these negative effects, information is needed on how specific programs and instruments could be used to incentivize ranchers into adopting rangeland practices to achieve land conservation. We examine what encourages livestock ranchers to adopt more sustainable rangeland practices with various technical and conservation attributes in Colombia’s Orinoco region. First, we analyze a management alternative based on an improved pasture (IP) approach traditionally used in tropical South America, and another practice that promotes silvopastoral systems (SP) that better sustain the long term provision of ecosystem services. Second, we assess the influence that technical assistance and conservation payment instruments can have on the adoption of the IP or SP programs. Using expert-based elicitation, questionnaires, choice experiments, and econometrics, we found that when either SP or IP management alternatives include a complete technical assistance program (CTAP), emphasizing forage or cattle production, the propensity to adopt the conservation focused SP alternative significantly increases. The SP alternative with CTAP for cattle production was valued by ranchers at $290 ha/year and the CTAP prioritizing forage production was valued at $233 per ha/year. Nonetheless, a basic technical assistance program for cattle production using the IP alternative was valued at $128, but when including the CTAP, the value increased to $262. Adopting conservation practices in the form of compensation payments for not grazing portions of their land in the SP was valued by ranchers at an average of $8 and $10 in the IP. Our findings show that decisions to adopt conservation oriented rangeland practices and policies are not strictly based on monetary payments for ecosystem services alone, but also on technical support.     

Improving China’s food and environmental security with conservation agriculture†

China has achieved impressive increases in agricultural output in recent decades. Yet, past approaches centred on a growing use of fertilizers, pesticides, fuel and water are not likely to achieve the required 30–50% additional increases in food production by mid-century. We show that efficiencies of production are falling and the costs of environmental harm are increasing. Agricultural innovations that improve natural capital are urgently needed. Conservation agriculture (CA) is now practised on >8?Mha in China and is offering promising prospects of both enhanced yields and environmental services. Our meta-analysis of 60 papers with 395 observations in China shows notable benefits from CA. Mean yield increase was 4.5% or 263?kg?ha^?1 for wheat, 8.3% or 424?kg?ha^?1 for maize, and 1.65% or 250?kg?ha^?1 for rice. In 34 datasets from 22 published papers (experimental duration: 2–17 years), 26 datasets (76.5%) show that CA increased yield and soil organic carbon (mean SOC increase of >3?g.kg^?1 in 0–10?cm soil depth) when compared with traditional tillage. Key priorities for the spread of more sustainable forms of agriculture in China are national policy and financial support, better coordination across agencies, and better extension for farmers.     

现代农业可持续发展综合效益评价研究——以贵州省为例

贵州省作为发展现代农业的试点改革省份,在发展特色农业模式、优化农业产业结构方面取得了一定成效,但同时也存在着制约其进一步发展完善的因素。文章从农业和乡村经济可持续发展实力、农业资源和环境可持续发展实力以及农村社会可持续发展实力3方面构建贵州省现代农业可持续发展评价指标体系,并运用层次分析法对其综合效益进行全面客观评价。评价结果显示,贵州省农业可持续发展缺少农业投入、对现有资源未能进行很好保护以及缺少可持续发展思维战略。文章针对贵州省农业发展瓶颈问题,提出了加大农业投入、加快农村经济发展,保护利用现有资源、维护生态环境,落实以人为本、实现农村社会全面发展以及完善评价考核指标体系、推进可持续发展战略的对策措施,为贵州省农业经济发展提供有力基础。     

陕西省主要粮食作物生产成本收益研究——以小麦、玉米为例

陕西省是我国的农业大省,粮食作物的生产成本和收益与农民收入直接相关,对农村经济的可持续发展具有重要影响。文章分析了陕西省主要粮食作物的种植现状,以小麦、玉米为例探究了主要粮食作物的生产成本收益,并对生产中存在的问题及潜力进行了详细分析,结果表明,尽管实施了多项惠农政策,粮食作物生产仍表现为成本高,收益低,农民播种积极性不高;粮食生产面临形势严峻,但陕西省粮食生产有很大的潜力可以挖掘。该文还提出了提高农民耕种积极性、提高粮食作物单产水平、实现农业产业化等对策建议,以期为提高粮食作物产量和品质,提高生产成本收益提供一定依据。