Assessing agricultural vulnerability to climate change in the Nordic countries – an interactive geovisualization approach

Nordic agriculture must adapt to climate change to reduce vulnerability and exploit potential opportunities. Integrated assessments can identify and quantify vulnerability in order to recognize these adaptation needs. This study presents a geographic visualization approach to support the interactive assessment of agricultural vulnerability to climate change. We have identified requirements for increased transparency and reflexivity in vulnerability assessments, arguing that these can be met by geographic visualization. A conceptual framework to support the integration of geographic visualization for vulnerability assessments has been designed and applied for the development of AgroExplore, an interactive tool for assessing agricultural vulnerability to climate change in Sweden. To open up the black box of composite vulnerability indices, AgroExplore enables the user to select, weight, and classify relevant indicators into sub-indices of exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity. This enables the exploration of underlying indicators and factors determining vulnerability in Nordic agriculture.     

泥石流滩地农业资源化开发与利用——以蒋家沟为例

泥石流滩地是山区宝贵的土地资源,其农业资源化开发与利用对促进当地社会经济发展和生态环境改善具有重要意义。以蒋家沟流域为例,在野外调查、遥感解译和实验分析的基础上,阐述了泥石流滩地农业资源化的原则和依据,建立了人畜 土地载荷平衡模型,分析了滩地开发利用的依据、效益和途径,并探讨了泥石流滩地未来农业资源化的思路和对策。研究结果表明：（1） 建立的人畜 土地载荷平衡模型反映了流域生态环境特征,能有效评价滩地开发利用的生态效益;（2）流域滩地农业资源化每年可产生500多万元的经济效益,除满足全流域6 418人的粮食需求外,还可提供338 t商品粮,是促进当地脱贫致富和社会经济发展的重要途径;（3）泥石流滩地既是宝贵的土地资源又是灾害的场所,其开发与利用可有效缓解山区人地矛盾,具有良好的生态效益,但需要在加强灾害防治和防灾减灾意识的基础上,进行深度农业资源化开发.     

Adoption of sustainable agriculture practices: Evidence from a semi-arid region of Ethiopia

In the wake of the resource constraints for external farm inputs faced by farmers in developing countries, sustainable agriculture practices that rely on renewable local or farm resources present desirable options for enhancing agriculture productivity. In this study, plot-level data from the semi-arid region of Ethiopia, Tigray are used to investigate the factors influencing farmers' decisions to adopt agriculture practices, with a particular focus on conservation tillage, compost and chemical fertilizer. A trivariate probit model is used to analyze the determinants of adoption of these practices. In addition, stochastic dominance analysis is used to compare the productivity impacts of compost with that of chemical fertilizer based on a six-year cross-sectional farm-level dataset. Our results indicate heterogeneity with regard to the factors that influence adoption decisions of the three practices and the importance of both plot and household characteristics on influencing adoption decisions. In particular, we found that household endowments and access to information, among other factors, impact the choice of sustainable farming practices significantly. Furthermore, the use of stochastic dominance analysis supported the contention that sustainable farming practices enhance productivity. They even proved to be superior to the use of chemical fertilizers — justifying the need to investigate factors that influence adoption of these practices and to use this knowledge to formulate policies that encourage adoption.     

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.     

关于农业生态旅游的几点看法

农业生态旅游已逐渐成为普通大众的一种新的旅游消费方式,近年来国内外正在不断兴起。农业生态旅游是农业生产与旅游活动的有机结合,它已日益成为农业的一个新的经济增长点。发展农业生态旅游需要加强旅游地的“软件”(生态旅游规划、广告策划等)和“硬件”(基础配套设施等)的建设,特别是健康优美的农村生态环境的建设与保护,要本着大农业、大生态、大旅游的思想,推动农业生态旅游的产业化进程及其可持续发展。     

论生态示范区建设与生态农业产业化

从实践和理论两个方面探讨了生态示范区建设中生态农业的地位、生态农业产业化的定义、内涵、技术对策及发展方向     

废水处理设施运转情况调查分析

通过对我区废水处理设施运转情况的调查分析,得出废水处理设施运转效率低是由于设计水平低,施工质量差,设备管理不善及领导不重视等原因所致。     

华北平原土壤肥力的变化与影响因素分析

通过对２０世纪以来华北平原土壤调查数据的分析对比,揭示了从传统农业向现代农业转变的过程中土壤肥力的变化。从总体上看,冀北地区的土壤肥力有所下降,而冀南和鲁西北地区有所上升。影响肥力变化的因子包括河流治理、施肥、高产品种使用后种植制度和土地利用程度的变化等等。     

水资源短缺条件下绿洲的建设和发展——以卡拉—铁干里克垦区为例

在水资源短缺条件下,垦区农业发展采取了多种经营,发展以棉花、水果和养鹿为主的高效特色农业,同时加强工程建设,进行水资源开源节流,强化管理和对绿洲的保护,这些已成为维持绿洲稳定和促进绿洲农业经济发展的关键措施。     

中国和西方国家产业生态学思想与实践的对比分析

产业生态学是最近兴起的一门很有前途的学问,它继承和发展了自然生态系统的理论,并运用它来指导面临危境的工业生产活动。它与我国目前提倡的生态农业有相似的地方,也有很大的不同。本文结合对中西方对产业生态学思想和实践的对比,分析了各自的优势,指出了不足