Conservation agriculture and climate resilience

Agricultural productivity growth is vital for economic and food security outcomes which are threatened by climate change. In response, governments and development agencies are encouraging the adoption of ‘climate-smart’ agricultural technologies, such as conservation agriculture (CA). However, there is little rigorous evidence that demonstrates the effect of CA on production or climate resilience, and what evidence exists is hampered by selection bias. Using panel data from Zimbabwe, we test how CA performs during extreme rainfall events - both shortfalls and surpluses. We control for the endogenous adoption decision and find that use of CA in years of average rainfall results in no yield gains, and in some cases yield loses. However, CA is effective in mitigating the negative impacts of deviations in rainfall. We conclude that the lower yields during normal rainfall seasons may be a proximate factor in low uptake of CA. Policy should focus promotion of CA on these climate resilience benefits.     

Localising the global food system

Agricultural systems have become increasingly industrialized and mechanized, relying on machinery and chemical inputs, rather than people and natural processes, to increase yields of food. The trend towards an increasingly globalised food system encourages unsustainable transportation of food around the world. Agricultural intensification and the globalisation of the agrofood chain has resulted in adverse environmental, social and economic consequences impeding moves towards sustainability. Organic farming can overcome many of the environmental problems associated with agricultural intensification. However, it does not have the potential to fully address the social and economic problems caused by the globalisation of the food system. Organic farming must be combined with local and regional sourcing of food products, for instance through forms of direct marketing of organic produce. Direct marketing schemes such as farmers' markets, food box delivery schemes and community-supported agriculture are all projects which, if managed with sustainability as the prime objective, have the potential to move towards a more socially, environmentally and economically sustainable agrofood system.     

当前我国农业发展中存在的深层次问题及对策

农业现代化是保障国家粮食安全、农民持续增收、缩小城乡发展差距的重要举措之一。文章结合我国农业发展的现状,分析了当前农业发展中暴露出的一些深层次的问题,如土地流转不规范、耕地污染日益突显、盐碱地增产潜力不够、种子创新能力较弱、农业科技投入较少、农业发展理念有待革新等,并针对性地提出了相应的对策建议,为进一步推动我国农业转型发展和提高农村社会生产力提供决策依据。     

福建省农业源甲烷排放估算及其特征分析

农业领域的稻田和畜禽养殖是温室气体甲烷（CH4）的重要排放源,估算省级农业源甲烷的排放量,并分析其排放特征,对进一步提出符合福建省实际情况、在技术经济上可行的减排措施有重要意义。本研究基于福建省农业活动水平数据,根据IPCC国家温室气体排放清单编制指南,估算了1991-2010年福建省农业源CH4排放量。结果表明：（1）1991-1995、1996-2000、2001-2005、2006-2010年间福建省农业源CH4年平均排放量分别为46.50×104、44.38×104、37.87×104、33.12×104 t,呈降低趋势。其中,稻田CH4排放的贡献较大,4个时期年平均排放量分别为31.11×104、29.49×104、22.16×104、18.80×104 t,占全省农业源CH4排放总量的56.76%~66.90%;而反刍动物肠道发酵和畜禽粪便管理的CH4排放量在20年间的变化不明显,分别为6.27×104~10.31×104 t和4.95×104~7.20×104 t。（2）2010年,福建省农业源CH4排放高值区主要分布在龙岩市、南平市和三明市,占全省农业源CH4排放总量的51%;稻田CH4排放的高值区主要分布在南平市、三明市和龙岩市,占全省稻田CH4排放总量的56%,应优先考虑削减这些地区的稻田CH4排放;畜禽CH4排放的高值区主要分布在龙岩市、漳州市和泉州市,占全省畜禽CH4排放总量的52%,应优先考虑削减这些地区的畜禽CH4排放。近20年福建省农业源CH4排放量呈下降趋势,主要是由于水稻播种面积的逐年减少,未来农业源 CH4排放下降速度可能会放慢,因此控制水稻 CH4排放的重点应放在灌溉管理、施肥管理、稻谷品种选择等方面;而控制畜禽 CH4排放的关键是优化畜牧业结构,大力推进规模养殖,使畜禽品种、饲养技术和畜禽排泄物处理设施得到改进,提升单位畜禽饲养量的畜产品产出量,进而减少温室气体排放。研究结果可为决策者有针对性地制定福建农业CH4排放控制政策和对策措施,降低农业源CH4排放量提供基础资料。     

Agricultural production and sustainable development in a Brazilian region (Southwest,São Paulo State): motivations and barriers to adopting sustainable and ecologically friendly practices

The objective of this study is to identify the adoption level of practices associated with more sustainable agriculture and environmentally friendly practices. Additionally, the motivations for and barriers to the adoption of these practices by farmers are investigated. Data were collected through closed questionnaires taken by a random sample of farmers in the Southwest, São Paulo, Brazil, during the second half of 2013. Overall, sustainable agricultural practices recommended in the literature and analysed in this study are being not fully adopted by farmers of the studied area. The results showed that financial motivation is associated with farmers adopting new, more sustainable technology, whereas the lack of information on and lack of technical support for these technologies are significant barriers. Other results, research implications, limitations and suggestions for future research are presented.     

陕西省发展低碳农业的路径选择

陕西是我国西部地区文化、科技的强省。虽然能源资源相对丰富,但是生态环境脆弱。农业经济发展受地理环境和发展理念的制约,发展水平较之东部发达地区存在很大的差距。低碳农业随着低碳经济的发展应运而生,发展低碳农业不仅是统筹城乡发展、实现社会循环经济发展一体化的切入点,而且是保护生态环境"双赢"的重要途径,同时也是转变陕西农业发展方式的必然选择。试析在建设陕西新农村背景下如何选择符合陕西省低碳农业发展的新模式和如何选择促进陕西区域经济又好又快发展的有效对策。     

Socioeconomic outcomes of agricultural land use change in Southeast Asia

Agricultural land use is transforming rapidly in Southeast Asia, often supported by development policies aiming primarily at economic growth. However, the socioeconomic outcomes of these changes for smallholder farmers remain unclear. Here, we systematically review cases of agricultural land use change in Southeast Asia to assess their socioeconomic outcomes and potential trade-off and synergies in these outcomes. Of the 126 reviewed cases, we find mostly positive outcomes for income (SDG 1, 100 cases) and employment (SDG 8, 11 cases), while outcomes on health (SDG 3, 9 cases) were mixed, and outcomes for food security (SDG 2, 44 cases), gender equality (SDG 5, 13 cases), and economic equality (SDG 10, 14 cases) were mostly negative. Studies describing multiple outcomes show indications of synergies between income and food security, and between income and employment, but also potential trade-offs between income and economic equality. In addition, we find that economic land concessions result in multiple negative outcomes more often than other types of land governance regimes. The results provide evidence that economic gains from agricultural land use change often come at a cost of other dimensions of sustainable development.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13280-022-01712-4.     

Participatory integrated assessment of adaptation to climate change in Alpine tourism and mountain agriculture

Winter tourism and mountain agriculture are the most important economic sectors in a major part of the Swiss Alps. Both are highly sensitive to changing climatic conditions. In the framework of the CLEAR project, results from climate impact research in the field of tourism and agricultural production were used to investigate the perception of climatic change by stakeholders and to assess possible adaptations. We used a participatory integrated assessment (PIA) to involve the knowledge, values and experiences of the various social actors in tourism and agriculture (e.g., skiers, tourism managers, farmers) in the research process. Whereas climate change may have various severe direct impacts on the tourism industry, depending on the region, agricultural production may generally benefit from changed climatic conditions. But because of the dependence of farmers on “off-farm” income, the loss due to declining winter tourism in specific areas may cause more important indirect effects. However, the two sectors may adapt actively by choosing from a variety of strategies, and the loss of income from the tourism industry may support the re-evaluation of the various functions agriculture plays in mountain regions, beyond the production of food. The study demonstrates the suitability of the PIA approach to elucidate the interactions between different stakeholders and their perception of the climate change phenomena. A similar participatory approach could be a useful tool to transfer research results and expert knowledge to the political process addressing adaptations to climate change. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

替代面法和推算法在淅川库区氨氮干沉降评估中的适用性分析

农业源氨氮沉降是水库型水源地水体收到的重要的外源氮之一,其沉降量评估与来源识别是水体氮污染防控的重要依据 .替代面法和推算法是大气氮素干沉降监测的两种常用方法 .采用替代面法和推算法,于 2019年 9月—2020年 8月对淅川库区周边设置的 5个大气监测点进行干沉降样品采集,测定了样品中氨氮浓度及其氮同位素,探讨了 2 种监测方法在氨氮干沉降通量估算及氨氮来源解析中的适用性 .结果表明：替代面法获得的氨氮干沉降通量为推算法的1.4～2.1倍,2种监测方法获得的氨氮干沉降通量在时空变化趋势上具有一致性;推算法获得的δ¹⁵N-NH₄⁺较替代面法偏负,季均相差为11.1‰,时空差异显著.替代面法在获得淅川库区氨氮干沉降通量方面具有优势,受氨氮分馏影响,直接获得的 δ¹⁵N-NH₄⁺值较初始源 δ¹⁵N-NH₃值存在较大偏差,影响溯源结果的准确性;推算法能够分别获得不同氨氮形态干沉降中的 δ¹⁵N...     

Spatial Relations Between Floodplain Environments and Land Use – Land Cover of a Large Lowland Tropical River Valley: Pánuco Basin, México

Large lowland river valleys include a variety of floodplain environments that represent opportunities and constraints for human activities. This study integrates extensive field observations and geomorphic data with analysis of satellite remote sensing data to examine spatial relations between land use/land cover (LULC) and floodplain environments in the lower Pánuco basin of eastern Mexico. The floodplain of the lower Pánuco basin was delineated by combining a digital elevation model with a satellite image of a large flood event. The LULC was classified by combining a hybrid classification strategy with image stratification, applied to 15-m-resolution ASTER data. A geomorphic classification of floodplain environments was performed using a dry-stage image (ASTER data) and a 1993 Landsat image acquired during a large flood event. Accuracy assessment was based on aerial photographs (1:38,000), global positioning satellite ground-truthing, and a Landsat 7ETM⁺ image from 2000, which resulted in an overall accuracy of 82.9% and a KHAT of 79.8% for the LULC classification. The geomorphic classification yielded 83.5% overall accuracy, whereas the KHAT was 81.5%. LULC analysis was performed for the entire floodplain and individually within four valley segments. The analysis indicates that the study area is primarily utilized for grazing and farming. Agriculture is primarily associated with coarse-grained (sandy/silty) natural levee and point bar units close to the river channel, whereas cattle grazing occurs in distal and lower-lying reaches dominated by cohesive fine-grained (clayey) deposits, such as backswamps. In the Pánuco valley, wetlands and lakes occur within backswamp environments, whereas in the Moctezuma segments, wetlands and lakes are associated with relict channels. This study reveals considerable variation in LULC related to spatial differences in floodplain environments and illustrates the importance of considering older anthropogenic influences on the landscape. The research design should be applicable for other large lowland coastal plain river valleys where agriculture is a major component of the floodplain landscape.