Soil Fertility Quality and Agricultural Sustainable Development in the Black Soil Region of Northeast China

The black soil in northeast China is considered one of the most fertile soils in China. Consequently, the black soil region has become one of the most important regions for cereal grain production in China. Agriculture has developed rapidly since the early part of the nineteenth century. To date, approximately 70 percent of total land in the area is cultivated. Even though the agricultural production in this region is increasing continuously, some soil fertility quality problems have become serious. This is hampering agricultural development and sustainability in the region. A brief history of population growth and agricultural development in the region is presented. Major soil quality problems, particularly soil degradation and soil erosion, are analyzed. Based on studies, suggestions for improving soil quality and for promoting sustainable agricultural development in the region are presented. These suggestions include improving agricultural landscape patterns, developing conservation cultivation, promoting combinations of crop production with combinations of forestry and animal husbandry, and implementing integrated management for soil and water conservation.     

ON‐FARM WATER CONSERVATION PRACTICES IN SOUTHERN ALBERTA1

ABSTRACT: In southern Alberta, as elsewhere, pressures on limited water supplies are increasing. Not surprisingly, a great deal of attention has been focused on irrigated agriculture, which accounts for the largest share of water consumed in the region. In order to meet broadly accepted water conservation goals, some commentators have suggested that irrigation water use should be metered and that irrigators should be charged based on the amount of water used. An alternative proposal would have water management authorities rely upon the perceived adaptability of irrigators. This paper offers a perspective on the willingness of irrigators to conserve water. Based on a survey of 183 irrigation farmers conducted over the summer and early fall of 1998, we found that irrigators are generally aware of the need to conserve water and soil moisture, and that a variety of water conserving strategies were being employed. Water saving technologies specific to irrigation agriculture were less widely adopted. The findings suggest that there is considerable potential to reduce the amount of water consumed by the irrigation sector through increased efficiency, but that change will be limited if current economic circumstances and institutional arrangements persist.     

农业水分利用率及其对环境和管理活动的响应

全球变化引起全球温度升高,降水格局发生变化,使淡水资源更加匮乏。农业是占据首位的用水大户。如何节约农用水,提高农业水分利用率(WUE)是节约淡水资源,促进水资源的可持续利用,加快干旱和半干旱地区社会经济发展的关键。农业水分利用效率的概念及其表达式根据不同尺度、应用目的等而不同。提高WUE主要有两种原则:减少地表径流和蒸发,以及提高作物的蒸腾效率。论文描绘了提高农业水分利用率的模式图,提出了今后应着重研究的方向。     

基于CVM的荆州市稻田生态系统的景观休闲旅游价值评价

采用条件价值评估法（Contingent Valuation Method,CVM）调查了荆州市居民对稻田生态系统景观休闲旅游功能的认知程度和支付意愿,对受访者的社会经济特征与支付意愿进行了相关性分析,并对荆州市稻田景观休闲旅游功能的价值进行了货币化评估。结果表明,居民对稻田景观休闲旅游功能的认知程度很低,对其十分了解的仅占3.5%,并且更侧重于旅游这一目的,达到61.1%。同时,78.7%的受访者认为稻田景观休闲旅游是赋有乡愁情感的。对影响受访者支付意愿的诸多因素进行相关性分析显示,稻田景观休闲旅游功能的支付意愿与受访者的文化程度（P=0.000）和月收入（P=0.004）呈极显著正相关。运用Logistic回归分析得出,文化程度对支付意愿的敏感性较大。按人均支付意愿计算,荆州市稻田生态系统景观休闲旅游的总价值约为4.43亿元     

跨国农业土地权属交易及相关国际规则制定动向

持续的农业投资是确保世界粮食安全的根本措施。随着全球粮价走高,农业投资再次升温,与此伴随的跨国土地权属交易以及相应国际规则的制定问题成为全球粮食安全治理的重大问题。本文通过分析跨国农业土地权属交易现状和相关国际规则的制定动向来洞察跨国农业投资的最新动态,为中国参与国际农业经济活动提供参考依据。研究显示,在新一轮的农业投资热潮中,投资主体依然是美国、欧盟和日本等传统农业投资国,新兴国家的投资规模较小但却备受国际社会关注。新的投资活动中出现了一些侵害当地居民土地权属权利的现象,跨国农业土地权属交易面临诸多争议。为了促进农业投资的有序进行,以联合国粮农组织为核心的国际机构着力进行农业土地权属治理和交易规则的制定,并在经过长时间的国际磋商之后形成了《国家粮食安全范围内土地、渔业及森林权属负责任治理自愿准则》。另外一部相关规则《促进农业和粮食系统负责任投资原则》还在磋商之中。两套规则解决的是一个问题的两个方面,前一个针对的是国内土地权属治理的制度安排,后一个则针对具体的农业投资活动。其目标都是要强化发展中国家的土地权属治理,保护农民尤其是小规模农户的权属权利,以实现更为全面的粮食安全。新的土地权属交易国际规则的出台抬高了农业投资的准入门槛,但也为农业投资营造更为良好的制度和法律环境,降低农业投资的不确定性。在此背景下,中国农业企业"走出去"要做出适当调整,以顺应新的投资环境。     

辽宁省休闲农业旅游经济发展探析

介绍了休闲农业旅游经济的发展历史及概念、内涵,结合辽宁省的现状及优势,提出了在发展休闲乡村旅游产业时应因地制宜、突出特色、打造精品、加强管理、提高质量,走政府主导、民众参与、依靠核心竞争优势的可持续发展之路.     

对外开放背景下中国粮食安全形势研判与战略选择

中美地缘政治竞争加剧,新冠肺炎疫情、极端天气气候等不确定性事件频发,依托两种资源两个市场的国家粮食安全策略面临新的挑战。结合统计数据与文献观点,分析了新时期中国粮食安全面临的主要问题,研究了农业开放保障粮食安全的主要效用,探索了扩大对外开放背景下我国粮食安全的保障思路。结果表明：（1）中国粮食安全取得了显著成就,但也存在粮食供应的经济与资源环境代价巨大、粮食稳定供应与获取的风险加大等问题,需要在开放条件下创新粮食安全实现路径。（2）农业对外开放可影响粮食供应、获取、利用与稳定性,当前对外开放促进了国家粮食供应,但尚未实现稳定的食物安全、有竞争力的食物安全。农业对外开放仍有广泛的互惠共赢基础,同时也面临更大的不确定性,考验我国粮食领域应对全球化“危”“机”的治理能力。（3）国家粮食安全治理对于保障粮食安全至关重要,建议采取凸显产能的粮食自给战略、全产业链的食物安全战略与高水平的农业对外开放战略,确保粮食安全落实落地。     

关于农业生态补偿的政策思考

为推动农业生态补偿在我国的实施,从政策的角度分析了实施农业生态补偿的政策背景、农业生态补偿的政策取向,提出应当从解决我国农业和农村突出问题以及我国农业支持政策的转型2个层面来深刻理解实施农业生态补偿的政策价值,农业生态补偿应定位于对农业的生态补偿,以激励农业生产方式的转变为目标,并对具体实施生态补偿中需要重点关注的几个方面提出建议。     

Measurement of agricultural total factor productivity growth incorporating environmental factors: A nutrients balance approach

This article proposes to use nutrient-orientated environmental efficiency (EE) measures to construct a nutrient total factor productivity index (NTFP). Since nutrient-orientated EE measures are consistent with the materials balance principle, NTFP index is superior to other existing TFP indexes. An empirical study on the environmental performance of an agricultural sector in 30 OECD countries from 1990 to 2003 yielded several important findings. First, these countries should be able to produce current outputs with at least 50% less aggregate eutrophying power, implying that they should have been able to substantially reduce the potential for eutrophication. Second, traditional TFP has grown by 1.6% per annum due to technical progress; however, there are lags in the responses of several countries to this technical progress. Third, environmental TFP has grown at a slower rate than traditional TFP growth due to reductions in nutrient-orientated allocative efficiency. Finally, changes in input combinations could have significantly improved environmental efficiency and productivity. These findings favor policy interventions and faster technological transfer to improve environmental performance.     

Local Sustainability Indicators

Local Environment has established a bit of a niche in local sustainability indicator studies. In 1997 it published the important debate between Jeb Brugman and Graham Pinfield, which highlighted that sustainability indicators and their role are contested issues (Vol. 2, Nos 1-3). In 1999 it produce a first special issue on the topic (Vol. 4, No. 2). As the editors identified, this special issue probed ‘deeper into aspects of indicator selection, methodology, theory and practice’. The papers presented there began to discuss a theme that is developed further in this special issue, that of the relationship between the objective and the subjective in indicator development and use. Our special issue brings together three full papers and a commentary presenting research and information from the USA, Sweden, France and Austria. In this editorial we are going to review the growth of interest in sustainability indicators and the changing way in which they are viewed and briefly comment on some recent indicator projects that we have been involved in.