Using Insurance to Enhance Nitrogen Fertilizer Application to Reduce Nitrogen Losses to the Environment

The advantage of using insurance to help a farmer adopt a best nitrogen management plan (BNMP) that reduces the impact of agricultural production on the environment is analytically and empirically demonstrated. Using an expected value analysis, it is shown that an insurance program can be structured soas to reduce a farmer's cost of bearing the adoption risk associated with changing production practices and, thus, to improve the farmer's certainty equivalent net return thereby promoting the adoption of a BNMP. Using the adoption of growing-season only N fertilizer application in Iowa as a case study, it is illustrated how insurance may be used to promote the adoption of this practice to reduce N fertilizeruse. It is shown that it is possible for a farmer and an insurance company both to have an incentive to develop an insurance adoption program that will benefit both the farmer and the insurance company, increasing net social welfare and improving environmental quality in Iowa.     

Counterpart Models in Facility Location Science and Reserve Selection Science

Five classes of zero–one programming models for discrete facility location problems are compared to counterpart models for the selection of conservation reserves. The basic problem of siting facilities to cover demand for services is analogous to the problem of selecting reserves to support species diversity. The classes of models include the set covering and maximal covering models, as well as models for backup and redundant coverage. Issues of reliability and uncertainty are addressed by chance constrained covering models and maximal expected covering models. Exact and heuristic solution approaches are discussed. Multi-objective and economic issues are considered.     

Ambient toxicity due to chlorpyrifos and diazinon in a central California coastal watershed

The Salinas River watershed along the central coast of California, U.S.A., supports rapidly growing urban areas and intensive agricultural operations. The river drains to an estuarine National Wildlife Refuge and a National Marine Sanctuary. The occurrence, spatial patterns, sources and causesof aquatic toxicity in the watershed were investigated by sampling four sites in the main river and four sites in representative tributaries during 15 surveys between September1998 and January 2000. In 96 hr toxicity tests, significant Ceriodaphnia dubia mortality was observed in 11% of the mainriver samples, 87% of the samples from a channel draining anurban/agricultural watershed, 13% of the samples fromchannels conveying agricultural tile drain runoff, and in 100% of the samples from a channel conveying agricultural surface furrow runoff. In six of nine toxicity identificationevaluations (TIEs), the organophosphate pesticides diazinon and/or chlorpyrifos were implicated as causes of observed toxicity, and these compounds were the most probable causes oftoxicity in two of the other three TIEs. Every sample collectedin the watershed that exhibited greater than 50% C. dubia mortality (n = 31) had sufficient diazinon and/or chlorpyrifos concentrations to account for the observed effects.Results are interpreted with respect to potential effects on other ecologically important species.     

气候环境实验室降雪环境模拟技术研究

目的建立实验室降雪环境模拟技术,为飞机等武器装备降雪环境适应性试验验证提供技术支持。方法基于对自然降雪和实验室模拟降雪机理的对比与分析,提出影响实验室内模拟降雪的关键因素,并结合理论分析和试验研究,得出实验室内模拟降雪环境的冷负荷计算方法和最优成雪的水粒直径。结果建立了实验室降雪环境模拟技术,采用该降雪环境模拟技术,降雪强度及降雪品质均满足飞机等武器装备降雪环境适应性试验验证需求。结论建立的降雪环境模拟技术切实有效,可用于实验室飞机等武器装备降雪环境适应性试验研究。     

El Niño‐Southern Oscillation,rainfall variability and sustainable agricultural development in the Ho Municipality,Ghana

El Niño‐Southern Oscillation (ENSO), which occurs in the Equatorial Pacific Ocean, has been identified to have significant influence on rainfall variability throughout the world, especially in the tropics. Such variability in rainfall has implications for agrarian economies, such as that in Ghana. This study therefore sought to demonstrate the effect of ENSO‐induced variability in annual and seasonal rainfall on the development of sustainable agriculture in the Ho Municipality of Ghana. Using 61 years of monthly rainfall data (1955–2015) for the Ho Municipality and ENSO indices, this study showed that 15% of the variability in total annual rainfall is explained by the ENSO phenomena. Mean annual rainfall and rainfall in the major rainy season decreased for El Niño years, in addition to a more variable rainfall compared to that received in La Niña years. The major growing season was observed to be longer in La Niña years and shorter in El Niño years. This means that the potential for crop cultivation will be severely hampered in an El Niño year. Farmers within the municipality are therefore encouraged to harness other complementary water sources for farming activities and also employ water management strategies during El Niño years.     

Food access,food security and community gardens in Rockford,IL

Urban agriculture projects seek to ameliorate issues of food access and food security for people living in areas with low access to fresh foods, including food deserts. Within this discourse, community gardens have been promoted as vehicles to reclaim unused urban space, produce food locally and connect populations to their food sources and larger community. A variety of community garden models exist; in the Midwestern city of Rockford, Illinois, many community gardens grow food for donation to food pantries as part of a programme to benefit socioeconomically disadvantaged persons in the city. However, the ability of these gardens to involve neighbourhood participants and provide the social capital-related benefits attributed to community gardens in the literature is uncertain. Here we examine community gardens in Rockford, IL to assess the extent to which they contribute to residents’ ability to obtain fresh produce as well as other social benefits. Data for this project come from a combination of interviews with gardeners, focus groups with food pantry users and a survey of pantry users. We find that while non-gardening community members are benefitting from the increased produce that the gardens provide, they are not receiving all of the social and communal benefits associated with actively participating in a garden.     

LAND USE AND STREAMWATER NITRATE-N DYNAMICS IN AN URBAN-RURAL FRINGE WATERSHED1

ABSTRACT: Agricultural and residential activities are key non-point sources of nitrogen pollution in urban-rural fringe areas. A GIS-based watershed approach was used to compare land use indicators (septic system and animal unit densities), to streamwater nitrate-N in the Salmon River near Vancouver, B.C., Canada. The density of septic systems was used as an indicator of residential development while animal unit density was used as an indicator of the intensity of agricultural activity. Nitrate-nitrogen (nitrate-N) concentrations as high as 7.1 mg·L^?1 were found in the mid-portion of the watershed during the summer months, when streamflow is low and groundwater comprises a large proportion of water in the stream. The major aquifer supplying water to the midsection of the watershed is contaminated with nitrate-N. A comparison of the relationships between septic system and animal unit density and nitrate-N in the upstream to downstream direction provided evidence that both residential and agricultural activities contribute to elevated nitrate-N in the Salmon River mainstem. In contrast, only septic system density corresponded to the pattern of streamwater nitrate-N in Coghlan Creek, the main tributary to the Salmon River.     

The role of rainfed agriculture in securing food production in the Nile Basin

A better use of land and water resources will be necessary to meet the increasing demand for food in the Nile basin. Using a hydro-economic model along the storyline of three future political cooperation scenarios, we show that the future of food production in the Basin lies not in the expansion of intensively irrigated areas and the disputed reallocation of water, but in utilizing the vast forgotten potential of rainfed agriculture in the upstream interior, with supplemental irrigation where needed. Our results indicate that rainfed agriculture can cover more than 75% of the needed increase in food production by the year 2025. Many of the most suitable regions for rainfed agriculture in the Nile basin, however, have been destabilized by recent war and civil unrest. Stabilizing those regions and strengthening intra-basin cooperation via food trade seem to be better strategies than unilateral expansion of upstream irrigation, as the latter will reduce hydropower generation and relocate, rather than increase, food production.     

基于农业生态地带模型的中国粮食产能动态评估

随着人口增加和人们生活水平的不断提高,我国粮食消费需求将继续呈刚性增长,使得粮食品种和区域结构性矛盾加剧,而粮食产能的动态评估能够让我们加深认识我国粮食供需平衡,对制定适宜于我国经济社会发展同时保障粮食安全的粮食可持续发展战略具有重要意义.论文选取农田生产力作为我国粮食产能的指标,通过改进农业生态地带(AEZ)模型,动态嵌入不同县域水平的管理和投入水平的限制性因子,集成县级截面数据估计投入系数权重,并基于此估算了全国2000-2010年间农田生产力水平.研究发现,2000年以来,我国农田生产力虽年际间存在波动,但总体呈现增长的态势,且区域差异性显著.农田生产力水平存在从沿海到内陆、从南向北及从东向西的递减的梯度,而局部地区农田生产力变化明显,表现出明显的东西分异规律,其次是南北分异规律.而对各个地区农田生产力平均值统计发现,东部沿海地区与南部省份的农田生产力要高于内陆省份,西部地区农田生产力普遍低于东部和中部地区.2000、2005、2010年全国分县统计的粮食产量数据与动态估算结果进行精度验证,其相关系数分别达到0.82、0.76和0.89,实际产量为估算结果的69.4％、73.4％、67.2％,较好的反映了我国农田生产力的基本状况.最后,基于我国农田生产力时空变化规律和局部差异性特征,以及我国经济区水平上的中国农田生产力的变化规律,从耕地数量保障、农业管理和投入水平提高以及适宜的农业区划方面,提出适宜于我国自然环境状况和社会经济发展的农田生产力保障策略,对保障我国的农田生产力的稳定增长方面的规划决策与政策制定具有参考价值.     

Agency–Community Partnership in Landcare: Lessons for State-Sponsored Citizen Resource Management

/ With over 2500 Australian Landcare groups, 65,000 volunteer members, and considerable evidence of program impact, Landcare is an important example of state-sponsored rural development in a developed nation. The agency-community partnership is a fundamental element of Landcare and getting the partnership right is vital to long-term program success. After reviewing the emergence of Landcare in the state of Victoria, the author reports research from a 1995 survey of Victorian Landcare groups. Survey information highlighted the extent of agency-group contact, the important roles agency staff played in many Landcare groups, and the positive impact of agency contact and government funding upon group activity. Large majorities of groups reported they were satisfied with their relationship with agency staff. However, a majority of groups reported money or materials provided to manage land and water degradation was inadequate. Recently proposed changes to the Landcare program will provide government funding of work on private property and may address this concern. A majority of groups also reported support for leadership and management training was inadequate and respondents emphasized the need to revise program guidelines that limit funding for group coordinators. This information highlighted the importance of articulating a practical model of community participation in Australia and adopting a systematic approach to providing agency support for Landcare groups. Reflecting upon the Landcare experience, the author suggests some of the key elements of a practical model of state-sponsored citizen resource management contributing to rural development.KEY WORDS: Landcare; Australia; Community participation; Rural development; Citizen resource management; Sustainable agriculture