Integrating high resolution soil data into federal crop insurance policy: Implications for policy and conservation

Well-designed and executed policies are critical for aligning sustainability incentives and enabling future agricultural productivity growth. In the U.S., government-administered crop insurance is the primary direct mechanism through which agriculture is subsidized and represents over $100 billion in liabilities annually. Despite the importance of soil properties in determining crop yield formation and risk, the Government does not consider any soil information in generating premium rates under the Federal Crop Insurance Program. The purpose of this study is to investigate the potential of integrating high-resolution soil data into modeling of field-level insurance rates in large-scale applications. Here, using the actual distribution of soil quality across crop fields in a high production region, models are developed to incorporate soil data into insurance rates and then evaluated to investigate the magnitude of risk differentials across different soil qualities. These soil-conditioned results were then compared to rates that would have been generated by the Government’s current soil-naïve methodology. This study indicates that the degree to which soils vary within a county is highly significant, leading to rating errors of 200% or greater. Implications of ignoring soil information and operational considerations of modifying this cornerstone program are discussed.     

‘Tolerable’ hillslope soil erosion rates in Australia: Linking science and policy

This paper reviews water-borne soil erosion in Australia in the context of current environmental policy needs. Sustainability has emerged as a central tenet of environmental policy in Australia and water-borne hillslope soil erosion rates are used as one of the indicators of agricultural sustainability in State of the Environment reporting. We review attempts to quantify hillslope erosion rates over Australia and we identify areas at risk of exceeding natural baseline rates. We also review historical definitions of sustainable, or ‘tolerable’ erosion rates, and how to set these rates. There are many ways to estimate hillslope erosion and these can create confusing results. Moreover their application for land management purposes requires nuanced interpretations that ultimately depend on the desired objective of decision-makers. Soil is the earth surficial material that serves as a medium for plant growth and the notion of tolerable soil erosion arose historically to assess the impact of soil loss on agricultural uses. However now that the impact of erosion on aquatic ecosystems been recognized as a major concern for Australia, the concept of tolerable erosion needs to be revised. Here we discuss three definitions of tolerable soil erosion, following recent literature. We derive estimates of long-term agricultural sustainability based on natural soil production rates and discuss this in relation to other defined land-management objectives such as aquatic ecosystem health. We conclude that the desired objectives of land managers must be clearly articulated before questions of ‘where to invest to control erosion’ and ‘how to assess return-on-investment’ can be answered.     

Spatial and long-term variability of soil loss due to crop harvesting and the importance relative to water erosion: A case study from Belgium

The harvest of crops such as sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.), potato (Solanum tuberosum L.), leek (Allium porrum L.) and carrot (Daucus carota L.) causes soil loss from arable land because soil adhering to the crop and soil clods that failed to be separated by the harvesting machine, are exported from the field together with these harvested crops. These soil losses can be of the same order of magnitude as soil losses caused by water erosion processes, but are often neglected in soil erosion research. In this article we developed a methodology to investigate the spatial and long-term (1846–2004) variability of soil loss due to crop harvesting (SLCH) in Belgium and the spatial distribution of the importance of SLCH relative to soil losses caused by water erosion processes in Flanders. The study is based on long-term time series of soil tare data of crop processing factories and area and crop yield statistics. Until the middle of the 20th century, potato and roots and tubers grown as second crop, had the largest share in the SLCH-crop growing area in Belgium. Sugar beet gained importance from the end of the 19th century onwards and has now, of all SLCH crops, the largest growing area. We could estimate that, partly due to increasing crop yields and the mechanisation of the harvesting process, SLCH per hectare of cropland increased from 0.4 Mg ha⁻¹ year⁻¹ in 1846 to 2.4 Mg ha⁻¹ year⁻¹ in the 1970s and early 1980s. Since then mean annual soil losses decreased again to 1.8 Mg ha⁻¹ year⁻¹ in 2004. It was assessed that total yearly SLCH in Belgium rose from more than 575,000 Mg in the middle of the 19th century to more than 1.7 × 10⁶ Mg in the 1970s and early 1980s, while current SLCH values are 1.4 × 10⁶ Mg. We estimated that since 1846, more than 163 × 10⁶ Mg soil was exported from cropland in Belgium through this erosion process, which corresponds to 109 hm³ or an average soil profile truncation of 1.15 cm. Average sediment export from cropland in Flanders was 3.7 Mg ha⁻¹ year⁻¹ in 2002, of which 46% was due to SLCH and 54% was due to water erosion processes. The relative importance of SLCH varied, depending on the agricultural region, between 38% and 94%.     

Salmon policy: science,society, restoration,and reality

Salmon policy in the Pacific Northwest illustrates a class of contentious, socially wrenching issues that are becoming increasingly common in the western United States as demands increase for limited ecological resources. Many Pacific salmon “stocks” (a term used in fisheries management for a group of interbreeding individuals that is roughly equivalent to “population”) have declined and some have been extirpated. The salmon “problem” is one of the most vexing public policy challenges in natural resource management. Even with complete scientific knowledge — and scientific knowledge is far from complete or certain — it would be a challenging policy problem. The salmon decline issue is often defined simplistically as a watershed management problem, in part because changes in watersheds are highly visible and often occur on public or corporate lands where individuals and organizations often have direct input to decision making. Yet, changes in climate and ocean conditions, for example, occur frequently and such changes have a major influence on salmon abundance. The scientific challenges are great, but the more difficult — and critical — aspect of the debate concerns policies and decisions affecting everyone, including those involved in rural enterprises (especially farming and logging); manufacturing and construction; electricity generation (including hydro, fossil fuel, and nuclear); national defense; urban development; transportation (including road, rail, air, and water). The debate also involves competing personal rights and freedoms; the prerogatives and roles of local, state, and federal government and Indian tribes; policies on human population level, reproduction, emigration, and immigration; and the future of fishing (commercial, recreational, and Indian). The salmon policy conundrum is characterized by: (1) nearly everyone claims to support maintaining wild salmon runs; (2) many competing societal priorities exist, many of which are partially or wholly mutually exclusive; (3) the region’s rapidly growing human population creates increasing pressures on all natural resources (including salmon and their habitats); (4) policy stances in the salmon debate are solidly entrenched; (5) society expects salmon experts to help solve the salmon problem; (6) each of the many sides of the political debate over the future of salmon use salmon experts and scientific “facts” to bolster its argument; (7) it has proved to be nearly impossible for salmon scientists to avoid being categorized as supporting a particular policy position; and (8) many advocates of policy positions couch their positions in scientific terms rather than value-based preferences. Although far from indisputable, I conclude that over the next century and allowing for considerable year-to-year and decade-to-decade variation, many, perhaps most, stocks of wild salmon in the Pacific Northwest likely will remain at their current low levels or continue to decline in spite of costly protection and restoration efforts.     

The impacts of land use policy on the soil erosion risk: a case study in central Belgium

Set-aside programs of the European government have a double impact on the regional soil erosion risk in agricultural regions: (1) there is less area susceptible to soil erosion and (2) fields with a high erosion rate are preferably taken out of production resulting in a decrease of the average erosion risk. In order to quantify this double effect an inquiry among farmers in central Belgium was set up to find out which fields are preferably taken out of production. A statistical analysis pointed out that fields with a weak slope gradient, a loamy topsoil and good soil drainage have a low probability of being taken out of production. The results of the questionnaire were used to construct a transition probability map representing for each field the probability that it will be taken out of production. These transition probabilities were used to simulate the decrease in regional erosion risk for different scenarios. The outcome of these simulations suggests that there is a negative power relation between the set-aside percentage and the regional soil erosion risk.     

A policy and technical measures for controlling soil and water loss in the Loess Plateau of China

Loess Plateau is the most serious region of soil and water loss in China and the world. The sediment carried into the Yellow River amounts to 1.6 billion tons every year. This paper reviews the factors and reasons for erosion in this area, and puts forward a comprehensive controlling policy on the basis of the principles of ecology and practise of Chinese scientists for 40 years. In conformity with the policy, a number of technical measures for controlling soil and water loss are suggested.     

Translating soil science into environmental policy: A case study on implementing the EU soil protection strategy in The Netherlands

The EU Commission has proposed a way forward towards a Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection based on the distinction of seven soil functions and eight threats. A Technical Working Group on Research defined some 200 general priority research areas in the context of the dynamic DPSIR approach considering drivers, pressures, states, impacts and responses. Though quite valuable as a source document, this may be too generic and academic to be a starting point for new, effective soil research in different regions of the EU. A six-step storyline procedure is therefore proposed aimed at deriving effective operational procedures for a water management unit in a given region, using available soil expertise and defining new research only where needed. The procedure, that was illustrated for a Dutch case study, consists of defining: (i) water management units (wmu's) in a landscape context; (ii) land-use, area hydrology and soil functions (iii) soil threats and relevant soil qualities; (iv) drivers of land-use change and their future impact; (v) improvement of relevant soil qualities; (vi) possibilities to institutionalize soil quality improvement as part of the EU soil protection strategy. A focus on regional wmu's is likely to result in a strong commitment of local stakeholders and governmental officials, allowing a more specific DPSIR approach. But this will only work if local officials also receive legal powers to develop and enforce codified ‘good practices’, to be developed in the context of communities of practice. Innovative research topics can be derived from a combined analysis of experiences within different communities of practice in different wmu's and should not be left to researchers to define.     

Perspectives on capacity building to guide policy and program development and delivery

This paper examines the perspectives of major interest groups on capacity development within the context of the significant contemporary global phenomenon of community-based decentralised governance at catchment scale. It focuses on providing empirical evidence to guide the development and implementation of policies and programs, especially those of governments. The research draws especially from regional governance experiences in Australia, as a country with advanced arrangements, and capacity building experiences in the sectors of health and risk and emergency management as informative arenas of learning. Twenty-two specific capacity building measures were presented in a discussion paper across human, social, institutional and economic dimensions. Perspectives were sought from regional, policy/research and Indigenous interest groups about applying these measures to enhance the effectiveness of the community-based Boards governing Australia's nation-wide network of 56 natural resource management (NRM) organisations. The research identifies a suite of specific measures and, in doing so, demonstrates the benefits of examining other sectors to inform capacity building in the NRM domain. The work highlights the need to better understand and account for differing interest group perspectives about capacity building issues, the application of specific measures, and the outcomes anticipated before developing and implementing policies and programs. While explored in the Australian context, these findings have application to decentralised governance arrangements in other countries.     

The science and politics of co-benefits in climate policy

The co-benefits concept implies a ‘win–win’ strategy to address two or more goals with a single policy measure. There is much scholarly and policy attention paid to this concept as a way to avoid making trade-offs between developmental and environmental issues. However, there is no review paper that reviews the nature, evolution, strengths and limits of the co-benefits concept in relation to climate change. Hence, this review article addresses the question: What does the literature tell us about the definition, application and use of the co-benefits concept? Using a literature review approach, this article explains the evolution of the co-benefits concept and its strengths and weaknesses. We conclude that while the concept has tremendous advocacy potential in dealing with the problem that the costs and benefits of climate policy are temporally and spatially not aligned, its de facto potential is limited as mostly economists have engaged with this concept, and there is little trans-disciplinary work undertaken that also looks at the politics and institutional aspects of co-benefits. The article thus provides an impetus to rethink current approaches to studying co-benefits and points to the need for inter- and trans-disciplinary research drawing on economic, political and social sciences.     

Disaster reduction,loss and damage data,and the post-2015 international policy agenda

Disaster risk management, particularly management of climate-related risks, has become central to the international policy agenda. Reducing hazard-related loss and damage relies heavily on scientific inputs. Science, in turn, relies on data—in this case 1) risk-related data on hazards, exposure and vulnerability, and 2) data on associated loss and damage outcomes. The latter, data on losses and damage, are also post-2015 international policy outcome indicators at the highest level, required for countries’ monitoring of progress in reducing disaster risk, adapting to climate change, and achieving sustainable development. Although the quantity and accessibility of loss and damage data are improving, a number of issues continue to constrain their potential. These include needs for more consistent cataloguing of hazards and extreme events, more systematic and accurate documentation of per-event losses and damage, more precise cross-referencing of hazard events with associated loss and damage, and improved standardization and interoperability among databases. We identify measures for improvement in this regard, both for research purposes and for post-2015 international policy implementation.     

Response of runoff and soil loss to reforestation and rainfall type in red soil region of southern China

To evaluate the long-term effects of reforestation types on soil erosion on degraded land, vegetation and soil properties under conventional sloping farmland (CSF) and three different reforestation types including a Pinus massoniana secondary forest (PSF), an Eucommia ulmoides artificial economic forest (EEF) and a natural succession type forest (NST), were investigated at runoff plot scale over a six-year period in a red soil region of southern China. One hundred and thirty erosive rainfall events generating runoff in plots were grouped into four rainfall types by means of K-mean clustering method. Erosive rainfall type I is the dominant rainfall type. The amount of runoff and the soil loss under erosive rainfall type III were the most, followed by rain-fall type II, IV and I. Compared with CSF treatment, reforestation treatments decreased the average annual runoff depth and the soil loss by 25.5%–61.8% and 93.9%– 96.2% during the study period respectively. Meanwhile, runoff depth at PSF and EEF treatments was significantly lower than that in NST treatment, but no significant difference existed in soil erosion modulus among the three reforestation treatments. This is mainly due to the improved vegetation properties (i.e., vegetation coverage, biomass of above- and below-ground and litter-fall mass) and soil properties (i.e., bulk density, total porosity, infiltration rate and organic carbon content) in the three reforestation treatments compared to CSF treatment. The PSF and EEF are recommended as the preferred reforestation types to control runoff and soil erosion in the red soil region of southern China, with the NST potentially being used as an important supplement.     

PAM对不同坡度坡地产流产沙及氮磷流失的影响

聚丙烯酰胺(PAM)是一种高效土壤改良剂,能影响土壤入渗、产流及溶质迁移、淋失.通过人工模拟降雨试验,研究了5°、15°和25°3个坡度水平下PAM对黄土高原沟壑区黑垆土坡地土壤侵蚀及氮磷流失情况的影响.结果显示:施加PAM后增加了5°和15°坡面的总产流量却减少了25°坡面的总产流量;PAM组初始产沙量较大,8 min以后,施加PAM组与对照组产沙速率出现差异并开始降低,表明施用PAM的起作用时间约为8~10 min,5°、15°和25°3个坡度的减沙率分别为38.2%、3.7%和53.9%.PAM对3个坡度径流中磷浓度有减小作用且不受坡度变化的影响,对5°和15°坡面铵态氮浓度影响不明显,但对25°坡面铵态氮浓度有明显减小作用,此外,PAM的施用能降低铵态氮初始流失浓度.施加PAM能影响土壤水分的再分配过程并减少3个坡度坡面硝态氮和磷的向下淋失.施加PAM后,5°、15°和25°坡面磷流失总量显著减少,减小幅度分别为77.6%、64.5%和85.1%;径流硝态氮流失总量随着坡度的增加先增加后减少,在15°~20°之间存在改变PAM对硝态氮影响作用的转折坡度值,PAM处理后的硝态氮流失量与径流量在0.05水平上显著相关,相关系数为0.998;PAM能够显著减少陡坡25°坡面溶解态铵态氮的流失量,减少幅度为60.1%.该项研究结果可为当地PAM的合理有效施用和提高水分及养分利用率提供科学指导.     

典型污染地区底泥和土壤中残留多氯联苯（PCBs）的情况调查

为了解PCBs在生态系统中的分布,利用毛细管气相色谱对受PCBs污染地区的土壤、底泥进行实际环境样品的调查。在底泥和土壤样品中测定近50个同属物的含量,并对其分市规律进行了探讨。指出在实际环境样品中PCBs的同属物分布和工业产品有明显不同。通过不同深度底泥样品测定,证明PCBs在底泥中的渗透作用较弱。     

Effects of residue harvesting on water runoff,soil erosion and nutrient loss

The effect of corn (rZea mays L.) stover harvest on water funoff, soil erosion and nutrient transport under a reudced tillaage and no-till plant system was investigated in the northwestern Corn Belt (U.S.A.). Increased levels of corn stover harvest resulted in increased water runoff and soil erosion. Nutrient removal from the cropping system generally exceeded standard fertilization practices when either high levels of corn stover were harvested or soil erosion levels approached the soil loss tolerance levekl of 11.2 tons ha⁻¹ year⁻¹.     

Incentives and barriers to environmental inequality mobilization: A case-study analysis in Wallonia,Belgium

Environmental inequality scholarship has sought to shed light on the unequal environmental conditions borne by poor people and racial minorities, and to challenge public policies. Most studies are concerned either with assessing the unequal distribution of environmental amenities and disamenities or with exploring the theoretical foundations of environmental justice movements.We propose an original approach to environmental inequality, focused not only on the unequal distribution of environmental burdens but also on two other types of factors: the capacity to mobilize and engage in community organizations on the one hand and the spatial dimension of environmental inequalities on the other.The evidence for this study is from an opinion survey carried out in 2012 with 1298 individuals. We use a two-step cluster analysis method to compute a classification system based on four categories of variables: socio-economic, environmental, spatial, and social capital.     

Monitoring catchment scale agricultural pollution in Norway: policy instruments,implementation of mitigation methods and trends in nutrient and sediment losses

Agricultural management and losses of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and suspended sediments (SS) from eight small (85–2830 ha) catchments in Norway were analysed. The catchments represent areas with different agricultural production systems, soils and climate. Results from the long-term (9–16 years) in-stream monitoring show (i) large differences in levels of losses between the catchments, (ii) large interannual variability and (iii) few time-trends in losses. These results are discussed in relation to changes in agricultural policies and the implementation of soil management practices, such as reduced autumn-ploughing, catch crops, constructed wetlands and changes in nutrient application. Overall, these data demonstrate changes in farmer behaviour driven by economic incentives in combination with active extension services stimulating environmental friendly management practices. However, despite the increased implementation of mitigation methods by farmers, improvements in water quality at the catchment scale can be attenuated. More long-term monitoring programmes are clearly required.     

邻里效应能否促使稻农施用生物农药?——基于鄂、赣、浙三省农户调查数据的考察

在构建邻里效应对农户生物农药施用行为影响的理论模型基础上,利用鄂、赣、浙三省农户的调研数据,实证检验了邻里效应对农户生物农药施用行为的影响,在此基础上,进一步讨论了邻里效应促使稻农施用生物农药的条件与内在作用机制。结果表明：第一,55.76%的样本农户施用过生物农药,且施用生物农药的农户有较强的邻里关系。第二,邻里效应对农户生物农药施用行为有显著的正向影响,且强邻里效应的农户生物农药平均施用量要显著高于弱邻里效应农户。第三,邻里效应对稻农生物农药施用行为的影响存在条件限制,对高收入农户和规模户而言,邻里效应的影响不显著。第四,邻里效应对农户生物农药施用行为有显著直接作用,也通过降低信息搜寻成本和有效规避农业生产风险两条路径间接影响农户生物农药施用行为。     

Modelling the effects of the current policy measures in agriculture: An unique model from field to regional scale in Walloon region of Belgium

Diffuse nutrient loss from agriculture into the soil, groundwater and surface water affects their quality. Different policies are in force throughout the European Union aiming for their limitation. They were implemented through action plans on a regional scale.Hydrological modelling can be a powerful method for efficiently evaluating their effectiveness. In order to be useful whatever the action and for every reporting unit (whole Region, water bodies, nitrate vulnerable zones, fields...) the model must be physically based, it must simulate water and nutrient fluxes in the root zone and the vadose zone as well as being geographically flexible. This paper presents such a model and its application in the context of Wallonia (Southern part of Belgium). It also presents a calculation of what water and nutrient flows could be under a given climatic scenario until 2015.In Belgium, water quality depends upon Regions. Wallonia implemented the European Nitrate Directive through two action plans the first in 2002 and the second in 2007. These actions plans were modelled and compared to a scenario without any modification in the farmers’ practices.The modelling showed the need for two indicators: nitrate concentration under the root zone as fast indicator of the actions’ efficiency and transfer time from surface to groundwater table. The first action plan hardly modified farmers’ field practices and consequently it did not impact water quality. The second action plan had more impact (reduction up to 10 mg/l NO₃ under the root zone). It was mainly due to catch crop introduction in the nitrate vulnerable zone, if they are followed by a reduction of the mineral fertilisation (not mandatory). Our results show that new actions are necessary. We show where and to what extent they have to be implemented.Nevertheless, the greatest variation in nitrate leaching from the root zone seems to be dependent on the weather, more than the action plans. Particularly the rainy period between 1998 and 2002 had a huge impact on nitrogen flows. Our hydrological modelling is showed to be a powerful tool of nitrogen management in a still uncertain climatic evolution context.Finally, we showed that patience and perseverance will be necessary to reach the targets of the WFD in the Walloon context. The map of transfer time shows that 8% of the groundwater bodies need over 15 years to be impacted by mitigation measures.