The life cycle of rice: LCA of alternative agri-food chain management systems in Vercelli (Italy)

The Vercelli rice district in northern Italy plays a key role in the agri-food industry in a country which accounts for more than 50% of the EU rice production and exports roughly 70%. However, although wealth and jobs are created, the sector is said to be responsible for environmental impacts that are increasingly being perceived as topical. As a complex and comprehensive environmental evaluation is necessary to understand and manage the environmental impact of the agri-food chain, the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology has been applied to the rice production system: from the paddy field to the supermarket. The LCA has pointed out the magnitude of impact per kg of delivered white milled rice: a CO_2eq emission of 2.9 kg, a primary energy consumption of 17.8 MJ and the use of 4.9 m³ of water for irrigation purposes. Improvement scenarios have been analysed considering alternative rice farming and food processing methods, such as organic and upland farming, as well as parboiling. The research has shown that organic and upland farming have the potential to decrease the impact per unit of cultivated area. However, due to the lower grain yields, the environmental benefits per kg of the final products are greatly reduced in the case of upland rice production and almost cancelled for organic rice. LCA has proved to be an effective tool for understanding the eco-profile of Italian rice and should be used for transparent and credible communication between suppliers and their customers.     

葫芦岛市近岸海域水生动物重金属污染状况的监测

参考国内外有关生物残毒研究理论 ,对葫芦岛市沿岸海区 ,包括东起笊笠码头 ,西至绥中芷锚湾海滨海水中现存动物体重金属污染状况进行监测和评价。     

From subsistence farming towards a multifunctional agriculture: sustainability in the Chinese rural reality

The rural economic situation in China-with a living standard mostly at subsistence level-lags far behind the prosperous development in the cities and coastal areas. To balance this disequilibrium, comprehensive concepts and endeavors are necessary keeping in view all-not just economic-interests and needs that contribute to lively rural identities. In this context the role of agriculture, where still 50% of the Chinese population are working, will be newly defined, and sustainability concepts can help to find a readjusted position within the Chinese economy focusing on environmental health and food safety as main targets of political and other supporting measures. Within the SUCCESS project, a Concept of Sustainable Agriculture was developed and it drafts one conceivable relation between the exposure to natural resources and economy and tries to find new answers to the broad range of rural challenges in China. It is a qualitative model and, therefore, not always fully applicable, but in the concrete situation of villages, it shows possible directions of sustainability-oriented development by considering the typical local potentials. In the Chinese context that means identifying the different functions of agriculture-the well-known and the hidden-to make them explicit for the Chinese public and therewith to give them new significance. The article is based on a 3-years study within the EU-China Project SUCCESS with field research in four Chinese rural communities. It analyzes the agricultural sustainability potential of these selected villages against the background of massive structural changes within the next 20 years in rural China. Starting from the current agricultural reality, based on a qualitative analysis of the actual situation, local potentials and needs towards sustainable production and marketing are identified, and possible functions of the Chinese agriculture are formulated for the future.     

桐庐县富春江、分水江库区漂浮物打捞处置方案

桐庐县富春江、分水江库区漂浮物主要由水葫芦、生活垃圾、动物尸体三部分构成,结合桐庐县垃圾处理处置设施建设现状及规划,对水葫芦及生活垃圾采用机械打捞-压缩中转-烘干（仅水葫芦）-焚烧工艺,对动物尸体采用人工打捞-冷藏车运输-冷库储存-焚烧工艺。为确保水葫芦焚烧可行性,比较了烟气直接烘干和蒸汽间接烘干两种工艺,推荐采用蒸汽间接烘干。     

Coexistence of Plants and Coexistence of Farmers: Is an Individual Choice Possible?

The introduction of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in Europe has been characterized by controversy. In 2002, the European Union introduced the concept of “coexistence” as a compromise solution that, through the establishment of science-based technical measures, should allow the market to operate freely while reducing policy conflicts on GMOs. However, the concept remains highly contested and the technical measures difficult to apply. This paper presents qualitative research on the conceptualization and implementation of the coexistence framework in two regions of Spain (Catalonia and Aragon), where 42% and 55% of maize was GM in 2006, respectively. In this context, the concept of coexistence and its proposed implementation both fail to resolve previous conflicts and actually work to generate new ones through the individualization of choice and impacts. Considerations of the social conditions in which the technology and the management measures are implemented were not taken into account. This resulted in the promotion of biotechnological agriculture over other alternatives.     

浙江省农业生物灾害的现状、趋势及减灾对策

病虫草鼠是农业的主要生物灾害。本文分析了浙江省农业生物灾害的现状和今后农作物重大病虫害的发生趋势,提出了农业有害生物的控制对策。     

试论科学发展观与建设生态农业垦区的辨证统一

科学发展观的提出为黑龙江省农垦总局建设生态垦区,加快总局经济发展提供了科学的指导思想,使科学发展观贯彻于黑龙江农垦总局生态垦区建设和经济发展的始终。文章从几个方面就科学发展观在建设生态垦区中的重要意义,科学发展观与建设生态垦区的内在联系及二者的辨证的统一加以论述。     

DETECTING CILANGES IN THE SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF NITRATE CONTAMINATION IN GROUND WATER1

ABSTRACT: Many studies of ground water pollution in general and nitrate contamination in particular have often relied on a one-time investigation, tracking of individual wells, or aggregate summaries. Studies of changes in spatial distribution of contaminants over time are lacking. This paper presents a method to compare spatial distributions for possible changes over time. The large-scale spatial distribution at a given time can be considered as a surface over the area (a trend surface). The changes in spatial distribution from period to period can be revealed by the differences in the shape and/or height of surfaces. If such a surface is described by a polynomial function, changes in surfaces can be detected by testing statistically for differences in their corresponding polynomial functions. This method was applied to nitrate concentration in a population of wells in an agricultural drainage basin in Iowa, sampled in three different years. For the period of 1981–1992, the large-scale spatial distribution of nitrate concentration did not show significant change in the shape of spatial surfaces; while the magnitude of nitrate concentration in the basin, or height of the computed surfaces showed significant fluctuations. The change in magnitude of nitrate concentration is closely related to climatic variations, especially in precipitation. The lack of change in the shape of spatial surfaces means that either the influence of land use/nitrogen management was overshadowed by climatic influence, or the changes in land use/management occurred in a random fashion.     

发展生态农业 实现农业持续稳定发展

我国是一个农业大国,具备生态农业建设的优势和特点,多年来在建设生态农业工程中,取得了经验,但还存在问题。必须提高生态农业规划目标,制定详尽的措施才能完成农业的持续稳定发展。     

Greenhouse Gases as Clues to Permanence of Farmlands

Abstract:  Farmlands are expansive, diverse, and intensively managed ecosystems. These lands, so critical to human welfare, are threatened by growing stresses as demand for food escalates, fresh water wanes, cheap fuels deplete, and other uses jostle for space. With these coming pressures, how can we foster permanence on the lands that sustain us? In this essay I contemplate the hypothesis that the greenhouse gases, because they emanate from the interwoven flows of C, N, and energy in ecosystems, can help steer us toward permanence (sustainability). Alongside other indicators these emissions may detect the ecosystem's pulse, alerting us to inefficiencies and guiding us to better practices. To be effective signals, however, the greenhouse gases will need to be considered in their local settings, monitored longer and in more "listening places," and measured across boundaries of disciplines and biomes. This approach may help reduce greenhouse gas emissions from our farmlands. But we may find that, in the long run, the main beneficiaries of our inquiry have been, not just the atmosphere, but our fragile lands, perhaps in ways we cannot yet foresee.