Environmental Awareness, Economic Orientation, and Farming Practices: A Comparison of Organic and Conventional Farmers

/ This study examines similarities and differences between organic and conventional farmers. We explore the factors that underlie farmers' conservation attitudes and behaviors, including demographic and farm characteristics, awareness of and concern for environmental problems associated with agriculture, economic orientation toward farming, and self-reported conservation practices. A series of intensive personal interviews was conducted with 25 farmers in Washtenaw County, Michigan, USA, using both qualitative and quantitative survey methods. The findings indicate that both groups of farmers share a concern for the economic risks associated with farming, although the organic farmers reported a significantly greater concern for long-term sustainability and a greater willingness to incur present risk to gain future benefits. Organic farmers expressed a greater awareness of and concern for environmental problems associated with agriculture. Organic farmers also scored significantly higher on a multifaceted measure of conservation practices, although both groups had a fairly high adoption rate. Implications of these findings are discussed, relative to economic risks of farming, implications for new farmers, effectiveness of conservation education and government programs, and impact of farm size and crop diversity.KEY WORDS: Environmental attitudes; Conservation behaviors; Organic farming; Agricultural sustainability     

Air pollution and young children's inhalation exposure to organophosphorus pesticide in an agricultural community in Japan

Assessment of airborne organophosphorus pesticides in houses of young children (1-6 years old) and childcare facilities was conducted following pesticide applications in an agricultural community in Japan. Trichlorfon and fenitrothion, applied in two separate periods, were frequently detected from outdoor and indoor air. Dichlorvos, the primary degradation product of trichlorfon, was also detected after the application of trichlorfon. Both the outdoors and indoor concentration of applied pesticide were shown to increase with decreasing distance from the pesticide-applied farm. Indoor concentration of these pesticides significantly correlated with outdoor concentration (p=0.001 for trichlorfon and p=0.001 for fenitrothion), indicating infiltration of applied pesticide inside. Ratio of indoor to outdoor concentration (I/O ratio) of fenitrothion was higher for houses with windows open during the application than those with closed windows (median value: 0.74 vs. 0.16, p=0.003). However, a similar trend was not observed for trichlorfon as well as dichlorvos in the first period. Dichlorvos was found to have a higher I/O ratio than trichlorfon during the period, and clear correlation between indoor concentrations of dichlorvos and those of trichlorfon suggested increased decomposition of trichlorfon in the indoor environment. Daily inhalation exposure estimated by using the fixed measurement data and time-activity questionnaire ranged from 0 to 35 ng/kg/day for trichlorfon, from 0 to 26 ng/kg/day for dichlorvos, and from 0 to 44 ng/kg/day for fenitrothion. Median inhalation exposure from indoor air accounted for 74%, 86.3%, and 45% of the daily inhalation exposure, respectively. For kindergarteners or nursery school children, inhalation exposure at childcare facilities was comparable with or more than that at home, indicating that pollution level at childcare facilities had potential of high impact on children's exposure. Estimated daily inhalation exposures were inversely correlated to the proximity of their activity location to the pesticide-applied farm.     

Implications of a simple competition model for the stability of an intercropping system

It is a common view that intercropping systems of agricultural crops produce more stable yields than do systems in which the same crops are grown in monoculture. This paper discusses a modelling approach which has been used to support the notion that whether or not intercropping is more stable than monoculture depends on the mode of interaction among crops, i.e. whether two different crops suppress or enhance each other. It is shown here that this notion is not supported by the model used. We conclude that the relative merits of the two cropping systems depend on the proportion of land allocated to each crop rather than on the mode of interaction. The model suggests that if the optimum allocation of land is considered, both systems will be equally stable.     

The role of agri‐environment schemes in conservation and environmental management

Over half of the European landscape is under agricultural management and has been for millennia. Many species and ecosystems of conservation concern in Europe depend on agricultural management and are showing ongoing declines. Agri‐environment schemes (AES) are designed partly to address this. They are a major source of nature conservation funding within the European Union (EU) and the highest conservation expenditure in Europe. We reviewed the structure of current AES across Europe. Since a 2003 review questioned the overall effectiveness of AES for biodiversity, there has been a plethora of case studies and meta‐analyses examining their effectiveness. Most syntheses demonstrate general increases in farmland biodiversity in response to AES, with the size of the effect depending on the structure and management of the surrounding landscape. This is important in the light of successive EU enlargement and ongoing reforms of AES. We examined the change in effect size over time by merging the data sets of 3 recent meta‐analyses and found that schemes implemented after revision of the EU's agri‐environmental programs in 2007 were not more effective than schemes implemented before revision. Furthermore, schemes aimed at areas out of production (such as field margins and hedgerows) are more effective at enhancing species richness than those aimed at productive areas (such as arable crops or grasslands). Outstanding research questions include whether AES enhance ecosystem services, whether they are more effective in agriculturally marginal areas than in intensively farmed areas, whether they are more or less cost‐effective for farmland biodiversity than protected areas, and how much their effectiveness is influenced by farmer training and advice? The general lesson from the European experience is that AES can be effective for conserving wildlife on farmland, but they are expensive and need to be carefully designed and targeted.     

Copper distribution in chemical soil fractions and relationships with maize crop yield

Agricultural practices can lead to copper accumulation in soils and at high concentration it can become toxic for plants. One common toxic effect of copper on plants is a decrease of crop yield. Here, we studied 1) the crop yield of maize grown on plots of a soil intentionally enriched with copper sulphate and 2) the possible relationship between the copper concentration in chemical soil fractions and the maize crop yield. Anthropogenic copper is mainly bound to manganese oxides, to iron oxides and to the organic matter. Maize (Zea maize L.) was grown on outdoor experimental plots. The crop yield was evaluated for three development stages: the 6–10 leaf stage, the female flowering stage and the maturity stage, 2, 4 and 6 years after the soil copper enrichment. Strong crop yield reductions, proving a toxic effect of copper on maize growth were noted 2 years after the copper input at the maturity stage and 4 years after the copper input at the 6–10 leaf stage. Variations in maize crop yield are described with linear multiple regression equations including the variable copper content in soil, and other variables when needed such as soil pH, soil organic carbon level and the climatic variables, the precipitation rate and the ambient temperature. The crop yield study at the 6–10 leaf stage and at the female flowering stage does not provide significant regression equations, while the crop yield study at the maturity stage does. Request variables for the models are the total copper content or the copper bound to the organic matter and the meteorological data. Electronic Publication     

Farmland size,chemical fertilizers,and irrigation management effects on maize and wheat yield in Mexico

ABSTRACT

Farmland size is a key factor in debates over agricultural land use, food security, agrochemical pollution, and the future of smallholder systems. This paper examines relationships between farmland size, chemical fertilizers and irrigation management, and maize and wheat yield in Mexico. We used agricultural census data to estimate the mean farmland areas and crop yields of 5.5 million farms and nine million agricultural plots in 2,455 Mexican municipalities. We also derived indices of socio-environmental and management factors to examine relationships with yield. Using multiple regression models, we found that although mean farmland area positively relates to maize and wheat yield, the relationships depend critically on the management contexts of chemical fertilizers and irrigation, which vary widely across farm size gradients. Smallholder yield gaps were associated with deficits in irrigation, rather than chemical inputs. Findings highlight the growing need for expanded irrigation access and/or water management assistance for smaller farms.     

陕西省农业旱灾系统及农业旱灾灾情模型研究

为试图解决当前有关干旱（旱灾）指标的片面性,本文提出了农业旱灾系统（ＡＤＳ）,并设计了描述农业旱灾灾情的模型：Ｅ＝ｋ＊Ｍ＊Ｈ＊Ａ。农业旱灾系统由气象干旱（Ｍ）、水利抗旱（Ｈ）、农业承旱（Ａ）及农业旱灾灾情（Ｅ）等四个要素组成。每一要素均由若干区域性指标进行刻划。在分析陕西省农业旱灾特点的同时,建立了陕西省农业旱灾系统的框架,并利用各种资料分析了陕西省农业旱灾灾情。分析结果表明,由该模型计算的陕西省各县级单位的农业旱灾灾情和几十年来的实际资料是相吻合的,模型是可靠的。而且,通过模型和实际情况的对比,能够为研究农业旱灾灾情形成机制提供更好的佐证。     

Fish Community Structure as a Measure of Degradation and Rehabilitation of Riparian Systems in an Agricultural Drainage Basin

/ Assessing the health of ecological components of agroecosystems may be accomplished by examining changes in the drainage basin, which serves as an integrator of the agroecosystem landscape. In this study we examined fish communities in terms of an array of indicators of structure and related these to changes in riparian vegetation and agricultural practice. Evidence suggests management practices designed to foster healthier environments by, for example, reestablishing riparian vegetation were associated with positive impacts on the integrity of the fish community. At the same time, continued intensification of agricultural practices in parts of the drainage basin in recent years likely has had an off-setting influence in overall improvements in agroecosystem health. Assessments of changes in the structure of the fish associations provide the balance sheet by which the counteracting influences can be aggregated and assessed.KEY WORDS: Fish community structure; Riparian system; Agricultural drainage basin     

苏北地区农业环境问题及管理方案的探讨

配合江苏省“碧海计划”和盐城市海洋经济绿色农业的发展，探讨了现阶段农业环境污染控制的直接政策管理、经济手段和人工生态工程处理三种方案，其中政策管理，如减少化肥农药的施用规定能减少污染，直接经济投入少，但是执行管理成本高，且政策见效慢；经济手段能减少污染，但环境目标达标不确定，且需要完善的市场环境，目前来说，本地区市场机制不完善，会出现“市场失灵”现象；人工湿地生态工程，前期投入大，但管理成本低，环境目标确定，但不能快速削减污染负荷。三种方案各有所长，在实际操作中，应针对不同区域的农业产业状况、方案时间迟度组合使用。     

Volatile organic compound emissions from straw-amended agricultural soils and their relations to bacterial communities: A laboratory study

A laboratory study was conducted to investigate volatile organic compound(VOC) emissions from agricultural soil amended with wheat straw and their associations with bacterial communities for a period of 66 days under non-flooded and flooded conditions. The results indicated that ethene, propene, ethanol, i-propanol, 2-butanol, acetaldehyde, acetone,2-butanone, 2-pentanone and acetophenone were the 10 most abundant VOCs, making up over 90% of the total VOCs released under the two water conditions. The mean emission of total VOCs from the amended soils under the non-flooded condition(5924 ng C/(kg·hr)) was significantly higher than that under the flooded condition(2211 ng C/(kg·hr)). One "peak emission window" appeared at days 0–44 or 4–44, and over 95% of the VOC emissions occurred during the first month under the two water conditions. Bacterial community analysis using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis(DGGE) showed that a relative increase of Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes and γ-Proteobacteria but a relative decrease of Acidobacteria with time were observed after straw amendments under the two water conditions. Cluster analysis revealed that the soil bacterial communities changed greatly with incubation time, which was in line with the variation of the VOC emissions over the experimental period. Most of the above top 10 VOCs correlated positively with the predominant bacterial species of Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes and Verrucomicrobia but correlated negatively with the dominant bacterial species of Actinobacteria under the two water conditions. These results suggested that bacterial communities might play an important role in VOC emissions from straw-amended agricultural soils.