Integrated assessment of future CAP policies: land use changes,spatial patterns and targeting

The recent and upcoming reforms of the Common Agricultural Policies (CAPs) aim at strengthening the multifunctional role of agriculture, acknowledging the differences in economic, environmental and social potentials within European regions. This paper presents results from an integrated assessment of existing and future policies within the framework set up in the FP6 EU project MEA-Scope. Spatial explicit procedures allow for the MEA-Scope modelling tools to provide information related to regional, environmental and socio-economics settings. The impact of different policy scenarios on structural change, land abandonment and cropping pattern of typical farms has been assessed based on linked agent-based (ABM) and Linear Programming (LP) models at regional and farm scale for two study areas. For the German case study area Ostprignitz-Ruppin (OPR), the issue of policy targeting has been addressed by relating non-commodity outputs (NCOs) to soil quality and protection status. For the Italian case study area (Mugello), changes in landscape patterns in terms of increased fragmentation or homogeneity as affected by changes in agricultural intensity have been analysed using semivariance analysis. The spatial explicit approach highlighted the relevance of case study research in order to identifying response structures and explaining policy implementation patterns.     

Growth dynamics of Saccharina latissima (Laminariales,Phaeophyceae) in Aarhus Bay,Denmark, and along the species’ distribution range

Growth dynamics of Saccharina latissima in a Danish embayment (56°03.793N, 10°16.148E) were investigated through an annual cycle (March 1999–March 2000) and related to patterns found in previous studies covering the distribution range of the species. The kelps exhibited meristematic growth as well as distal tissue loss all year around. Elongation rate peaked in spring (March–May, 0.75 cm day^?1), whereas maximum biomass growth occurred in May–July at higher insolation. S. latissima accumulated nitrogen (N) in November–March, when ambient N levels were high and the fast growth in March–July was followed by a depletion of these reserves. Light regimes and seasonal fluctuations of nutrients were, thus, major factors explaining the seasonal growth pattern of S. latissima in this temperate bay. Differences in light and exposure along depth gradients affected the growth, loss and storage product dynamics. High losses of N and carbon (C) through summer abscission of distal tissue question the efficiency of translocation, especially at shallower depths, where losses are accelerated by, e.g., high temperature. A large-scale comparison further highlighted that warming advanced the timing, increased the level of peak growth and also seemed to expand the growth period. Growth rates of the studied Danish population fell in the low end of the range for similar latitudes and temperatures, probably due to sub-optimal salinities (avg. 23.3 psu) in combination with periodically high summer temperatures (max. 21.1 °C).     

Model reactions of chromium compounds with mammalian and bacterial cells†

Chromate uptake, reduction, cytotoxicity and mutagenicity were studied with human red blood cells, Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells and/or Salmonella typhimurium mutant cells. All cell types rapidly took up chromates whereas chromium(III) salts were excluded under the experimental conditions. Red blood cells reduced and accumulated chromium from chromate. At concentrations above 0.1 mM, chromate inactivated the red cell chromate carrier. Chromate above 0.01 mM inhibited CHO cell proliferation irrespective of the cations present. Chromate and two chromium(III) complexes were mutagenic with Salmonella mutants in the Ames’ assay. A model for chromate metabolism and genotoxicity is proposed.     

Fossil bog soils (‘<Emphasis Type="Italic">dwog</Emphasis> horizons’) and their relation to Holocene coastal changes in the Jade Weser region,southern North Sea,Germany

After the deceleration of the postglacial marine transgression, the German North Sea coast was subject to deposition of a complex pattern of subtidal to terrestrial facies. This study aims at reconstructing these facies changes in the ‘Land Wursten’ region (Lower Saxony) by focussing on so-called dwog horizons (incipient soil horizons of the pre-engineered salt marshes). We explore their implications for relative sea-level reconstructions and their indication for early settlement activities. Archive drilling data (1960, provided by the ‘Landesamt für Bergbau, Energie und Geologie’) were analysed to create five high-resolution stratigraphic cross sections. Three new drilling records were subjected to sedimentological and microfaunal investigations and interpreted to verify and calibrate the archive data. Two dwog horizons were found and ¹⁴C-AMS dated. We found basal salt marsh deposits inundated by a high-energy event and covered by tidal flat sediments. The thick tidal flat unit is again overlain by salt marsh deposits indicating the transition from a shallow marine to a terrestrial environment where dwogs were developed and covered by episodic marine incursions. The ages of the dwogs (1128–969 cal BC; cal AD 1426–1467) do not correlate with known layers of adjacent settlement sites and are critically discussed. However, we show that they correlate with phases of stagnant regional relative sea level (RSL) and can be used as RSL indicators. The combined archive and modern data provide valuable information for the RSL reconstruction and palaeoenvironmental changes. However, further research is recommended to accomplish more detailed information about coastal response during the Holocene sea-level changes and implications for settlement dynamics.     

Policy relevance of three integrated assessment tools—A comparison with specific reference to agricultural policies

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), a system of market support instruments, direct income transfers, and rural development measures, has been put through an ongoing reform process in recent decades. This paper introduces three policy impact assessment tools (SIAT, SEAMLESS-IF, MEA-Scope tool) and analyses how these tools have responded to a number of challenges for integrated assessment modelling as reported in the international literature. Significant progress has been made with regard to modelling linkages whereas other challenges, particularly those related to issues of scale and uncertainty management, require further efforts. It is also analysed which CAP instruments are represented and what kinds of effects can be analysed at different scales. Market instruments and direct payments are comparatively well represented, while the ability to model rural development measures is mostly beyond the scope of these tools. Because each tool has found a different solution for coping with the common challenges of integrated assessment modelling, the choice of one of the tools for a particular application depends strongly on the policy questions being asked. The SIAT provides the big picture via its ability to represent broad changes in policy instruments with EU-wide cross-sector impacts. The most comprehensive analysis of agricultural policy instruments can be obtained with SEAMLESS-IF. The MEA-Scope tool complements the other two approaches with detailed regional profiles.     

Hazard assessment of chemicals in soil

Based on a stepwise (tiered) approach, degradation, adsorption and leaching tests as well as various effect tests (using plants, microorganisms and animals) are recommended for the testing of environmental chemicals. If, after the tests of tiers 1 and 2, the results of a monospecies-effect-test (including a safety factor) are within the range of the predicted exposure, the ecotoxicological hazard should be determined using a terrestrial model ecosystem. Some of the tests for the proposed strategy were selected from practical experience in testing environmental chemicals in the laboratory, and some on the basis of a comprehensive literature review.     

Determination of pendimethalin (PROWL®480 EC) spray drift from ground applications

Abstract

Pendimethalin herbicide (PROWL^®480 EC) spray drift was determined from ground applications representing the highest rate applied to corn in eastern Canada. A novel drift collector pattern was laid out on the ground immediately before herbicide application. Most of the drift collectors were located downwind of the application target area. The maximum labelled rate of 1.68 kg ai/Ha was applied on 2 occasions on separate sites. In both applications, drift collector cards indicated that concentrations of pendimethalin were not detectable outside the target zone (<0.01 μg/cm²) at or beyond the 10 metre drift collector stations. Risk assessment calculations indicated that non‐target organisms would not be at significant risk from off‐site movement of pendimethalin.     

Agricultural landscapes as multi-scale public good and the role of the Common Agricultural Policy

During the last 50 years, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has impacted the evolution of European agricultural landscapes by driving changes in land use and farming practices. We propose a typology characterising the scales relevant for agricultural landscapes management and argue that action is required on three scales: (1) a landscape oriented management at the farm level; (2) the coordination of land managers’ actions at the landscape level; and (3) the conservation of the diversity of agricultural landscapes in the EU. We provide evidence that until now the CAP has mainly focused on the first scale. We also illustrate how agricultural policy could encourage coordinated actions at the landscape- and EU-scales. In particular, we propose policy instruments to coordinate actions of individual land owners (e.g. collective bonus in agro-environmental contracts or support to environmental cooperatives (scale 2)). We also analyse how the recognition and transposition of the European Landscape Convention could promote trans-frontier landscape cooperation in order, not only to conserve high-quality rural landscapes, but also to ensure the conservation of the diversity of EU landscapes (scale 3). This paper provides a knowledge base to support an integrated CAP design in the direction of improved landscape management, as an important component of the EU project towards more sustainable agriculture.