新型农业经营主体参与低碳农业发展的激励机制设计

新型农业经营主体在一定程度上使得我国农业呈现集约化发展,为低碳农业发展提供组织保障,但是其自身没有发展低碳农业的动力。本文基于多任务委托-代理模型,从低碳农业发展过程中政府和新型农业经营主体之间的委托—代理关系为视角,设计政府激励和约束新型农业经营主体参与低碳农业发展的激励机制,促使其兼顾经济效益、环境效益和社会效益。结果表明由于缺乏评价标准,政府对新型农业经营主体在固碳减排效益方面比经济效益方面的不确定性更加明显,而不确定性程度与新型农业经营主体努力结果的可观测性呈负相关关系,固碳减排效益的不确定因素无限大的时候,其激励强度趋于0;在政府的补贴过程中,成本系数越高、绝对风险率越高和不确定因素越多,则政府的激励契约对新型农业经营主体的激励强度就越低,需要强化对新型农业经营主体在固碳减排效益和社会服务效益方面的激励强度;政府对经济效益的最优激励因子与其绝对风险规避呈正向相关,因此政府在对处于高风险规避期的新型农业经营主体组织给予较高的激励,而对于风险规避率较低的处于成熟期的新型农业经营主体组织给予较低的激励。最后对结论进行整理,并作出实际的解释和提出针对性的对策建议。     

新世纪以来国内外生态农业综合评估研究进展

在梳理了新世纪以来国内外文献的基础上,对生态农业的概念进行了溯源与辨析,系统总结了国内外学者对生态农业综合评估指标选取和指标体系建立的主要思路,将现有评估体系归纳为EES框架及其拓展和PSR、DSR模型两类,对评估研究所采用的主要指标进行了频度统计、讨论和中外对比。概括了当前研究中采用的权重确定与综合评估的主要方法并进行了优缺点比较。从农业特征、空间尺度、时间跨度等角度对国内外已有的实证研究进行了分类与总结。研究比较发现,国内生态农业评估在实际指标的选取中,往往将数据易得性放在首要位置,而缺乏对指标之间内在逻辑联系和指标合理性、有效性的审视,指标体系构建缺乏代表性和概括性。此外,在对生态概念的理解上,现有评估体系对农业生产环节的生态影响挖掘的并不深刻,对石油消耗、电力消耗尤其是碳排放等重要的间接生态影响存在遗漏。最后,针对现有农业生态评估存在的问题,研究提出六方面的建议:1鉴于全球气候变化影响的广泛和深入,考察我国和各地区的生态农业需要具有全球视野,应当将农业碳汇/碳源的测度和评估纳入到生态农业综合评估体系中;2评估时应当把握好农业生产效率的提升与生态环境保护两者之间的关系;3重视对农业生态模式和类型的辨识;4以我国农业发展阶段特征作为指标体系设计的基石,避免直接移植国外文献中的指标体系;5注重综合评估的案例导向性,并结合多源异构数据的优势来提高评估准确度;6注重对生态农业发展和变迁情况的长期性、复杂性和综合性的考量,提高评估的空间尺度和时间跨度。     

中国农业源碳汇估算及其与农业经济发展的耦合分析

农业作为重要的产业部门,在满足人们基本的物质需求的同时具有重要的生态保障和碳汇功能,充分发掘农业的碳汇潜力对于农业绿色化发展和农民增收具有重要意义。本文量化测算了我国1993—2011年的农业源碳汇潜力,并构建农业源浄碳汇与农业经济发展的耦合模型,结果发现农业源碳汇量由1993年的52 318.70万t波动增加到2011年的66 073.77万t,年均增加1.38%,但是农业源的浄碳汇量却呈现波动递减趋势,由1993年的36 691.72万t减少到34 815.67万t,其中粮食作物的CO2吸收总量占据主要部分,经济作物CO2吸收量在农业总的CO2吸收量所占的比重虽小,但是增速较快,年均增幅达到4.15%;从影响因素来看,农业源碳汇和耕地面积关联度不大,农作物单位产量和农业源碳汇呈正相关;农业源浄碳汇与农业经济发展之间处于强负耦合状态,耦合状态不理想,农业产值与农业净碳汇关联度不强,这主要是由高投入、高消耗的农业生产方式引发农业碳排放增加和农业总产出效益提升等原因造成的。最后,本文针对性地提出促进我国农业减排增汇的对策建议:强化政府引导,从农业的规划、生产、消费等多领域进行引导;加大农业减排增汇的技术、资金和人力支持,为农业的减排增汇做好保障;通过林地增汇、农田增汇、草地增汇、综合增汇等多种手段,提升农地的碳汇能力;加快碳市场交易体系建设,以市场杠杆推进农业的减排增汇。     

Linnaeus’ study of Swedish swidden cultivation: Pioneering ethnographic work on the ‘economy of nature’

Carl Linnaeus’ work on the ‘economy of nature’ was a major early development in what became the modern field of ecology. This analysis suggests that a key subject of this work that has been ignored or misunderstood for 250 years is the rural livelihoods, especially swidden (or slash-and-burn) agriculture, which Linnaeus studied during his expeditions through rural Sweden. Rereading his reports in the light of modern work on swiddens, political ecology, and the history of science affords a new appreciation of Linnaeus’ insights into traditional systems of resource exploitation. The logic of nutrient cycling in swidden agriculture and its utilization of natural dynamics to serve human ends exemplify the principles of the ‘economy of nature’, and gave Linnaeus a philosophical basis for understanding and defending this system of agriculture as well as other rural resource use systems in Sweden. This analysis sheds new light on Linnaeus’ ethnographic work, his view of folk environmental knowledge, and his often derided identification with Sweden’s ethnic peoples.     

上海市休闲农业布局及影响因素分析

休闲农业是上海市都市现代农业规划的重要部分。采用上海市农业委员会公布的122个休闲农业景点及土地利用数据,综合运用GIS及计量地理方法,包括:最邻近指数、地理集中指数;土地利用多样化指数、洛伦兹曲线和基尼系数;灰色关联分析和OLS分析等,对上海市休闲农业布局及影响因素进行探究。结果表明:(1)上海市休闲农业景点最邻近指数为0.673 8,分布模式为凝聚型,景点分布地理集中指数为42.31,集中程度较高;(2)上海市休闲农业土地利用多样化指数分布在0.2~0.7之间,区县间休闲农业用地多样化程度差异较大,休闲农业土地利用基尼系数为0.558 2,休闲农业用地在区县间分布不均衡;(3)农业资源、交通条件对休闲农业布局有显著的积极影响,旅游业发展对休闲农业布局有显著的消极影响。     

Farm‐level Economic and Water Quality Impacts of Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plan Implementation in the Ohio River Basin

In this article, we provide an assessment of comprehensive nutrient management plans (CNMPs) as a tool for addressing nonpoint nutrient and sediment losses from the animal feeding operations (AFOs) in the Ohio River Basin. We employ a macro modeling system to determine the aggregate economic and water quality impacts of CNMP implementation on AFOs in the entire basin. Results of the study indicate that implementing CNMPs on AFOs will help reduce sediment and organic nutrient losses from their current levels at moderate cost. The flexibility inherent in CNMP designs means farmers may be able to achieve water quality and other conservation goals at less cost with CNMPs than with other less flexible policy options.     

“The Lucky country”? A critical exploration of community gardens and city–community relations in Australian cities

Urban agriculture (UA) has the potential to expand beyond the grassroots level to meet the social, cultural, economic and food needs of urban dwellers. At its core, UA represents an alternative use of urban space that occurs with or without government support or approval. The experiences of community gardeners and their views of, and engagement in, community gardens as a form of UA, or local “alternative food networks”, is a focal point of this paper. Relying on Australian city case studies, this paper explores community gardens, using critical urban approaches concerning “rights to the city” and diverse economies. Findings from this study reveal how community gardeners understand and participate in diverse economies and extended local food networks. They also identify respondents’ views of local councils as barriers to the emergence of community gardens, and other forms of UA, as a local response to growing concerns over impacts of the global food chain on food security. In contrast to other Western cities, effective city–community relations for community garden growth have yet to emerge in Australian cities, as key policy areas for urban sustainability and social cohesion.     

Tetracycline resistance in semi-arid agricultural soils under long-term swine effluent application

Annually, millions pounds of antibiotics are released unmetabolized into environment along with animal wastes. Accumulation of antibiotics in soils could potentially induce the persistence of antibiotic resistant bacteria. Antibiotics such as tetracyclines and tetracycline-resistant bacteria have been previously detected in fields fertilized with animal manure. However, little is known about the accumulation of tetracyclines and the development of tetracycline resistance in semi-arid soils. Here we demonstrate that continuous land application with swine effluent, containing trace amounts of chlortetracycline, does not necessarily induce tetracycline resistance in soil bacteria. Based on the testing of more than 3,000 bacteria isolated from the amended soils, we found no significant increase in the occurrence and level of chlortetracycline resistant bacteria in soils after 15 years of continuous swine effluent fertilization. To account for a possible transfer of tetracycline-resistant bacteria originated from the swine effluent to soils, we analyzed two commonly found tetracycline resistant genes, tet(O) and tet(M), in the swine effluent and fertilized soils. Both genes were present in the swine effluent, however, they were not detectable in soils applied with swine effluent. Our data demonstrate that agronomic application of manure from antibiotic treated swine effluent does not necessarily result in the development of antibiotic bacterial resistance in soils. Apparently, concentrations of chlortetracycline present in manure are not significant enough to induce the development of antibiotic bacterial resistance.     

Recognizing animal personhood in compassionate conservation

Compassionate conservation is based on the ethical position that actions taken to protect biodiversity should be guided by compassion for all sentient beings. Critics argue that there are 3 core reasons harming animals is acceptable in conservation programs: the primary purpose of conservation is biodiversity protection; conservation is already compassionate to animals; and conservation should prioritize compassion to humans. We used argument analysis to clarify the values and logics underlying the debate around compassionate conservation. We found that objections to compassionate conservation are expressions of human exceptionalism, the view that humans are of a categorically separate and higher moral status than all other species. In contrast, compassionate conservationists believe that conservation should expand its moral community by recognizing all sentient beings as persons. Personhood, in an ethical sense, implies the individual is owed respect and should not be treated merely as a means to other ends. On scientific and ethical grounds, there are good reasons to extend personhood to sentient animals, particularly in conservation. The moral exclusion or subordination of members of other species legitimates the ongoing manipulation and exploitation of the living worlds, the very reason conservation was needed in the first place. Embracing compassion can help dismantle human exceptionalism, recognize nonhuman personhood, and navigate a more expansive moral space.     

Potential treatments to reduce phorbol esters levels in jatropha seed cake for improving the value added product

Jatropha seed cake contains high amounts of protein and other nutrients, however it has a drawback due to toxic compounds. The aim of this study was to investigate the methods applied to detoxify the main toxin, phorbol esters in jatropha seed cake, to a safe and acceptable level by maintaining the nutritional values. Phorbol esters are tetracyclic diterpenoids-polycyclic compounds that are known as tumor promoters and hence exhibited the toxicity within a broad range of species. Mismanagement of the jatropha waste from jatropha oil industries would lead to contamination of the environment, affecting living organisms and human health through the food chain, so several methods were tested for reducing the toxicity of the seed cake. The results from this investigation showed that heat treatments at either 120°C or 220°C for 1 hour and then mixing with adsorbing bentonite (10%), nanoparticles of zinc oxide (100 μg/g) plus NaHCO₃ at 4%, followed by a 4-week incubation period yielded the best final product. The remaining phorbol esters concentration (0.05–0.04 mg/g) from this treatment was less than that reported for the nontoxic jatropha varieties (0.11–0.27 mg/g). Nutritional values of the seed cake after treatment remained at the same levels found in the control group and these values were crude protein (20.47–21.40 + 0.17–0.25%), crude lipid (14.27–14.68 + 0.13–0.14%) and crude fiber (27.33–29.67 + 0.58%). A cytotoxicity test conducted using L929 and normal human dermal fibroblast cell lines confirmed that most of the toxic compounds, especially phorbol esters, were shown as completely eliminated. The results suggested that the detoxification of phorbol esters residues in the jatropha seed cake was possible while it also retained nutritional values. Therefore, the methods to detoxify phorbol esters are necessary to minimize the toxicity of jatropha seed cake. Further, it is essential to reduce the possible environmental impacts that may be generated throughout the jatropha waste-handling process. However additional tests such as digestibility as well as acceptability of the treated jatropha seed cake should be conducted using both in vivo and in vitro studies before recommending the jatropha seed cake as a source of renewable animal feed and other value-added products.