Review and appraisal of concept of sustainable food production systems

Environmental degradation, competition for resources, increasing food demands, and the integration of agriculture into the international economy threaten the sustainability of many food production systems. Despite these concerns, the concept of sustainable food production systems remains unclear, and recent attempts to appraise sustainability have been hampered by conceptual inconsistencies and the absence of workable definitions. Six perspectives are shown to underpin the concept. Environmental accounting identifies biophysical limits for agriculture. Sustained yield refers to output levels that can be maintained continuously. Carrying capacity defines maximum population levels that can be supported in perpetuity. Production unit viability refers to the capacity of primary producers to remain in agriculture. Product supply and security focuses on the adequacy of food supplies. Equity is concerned with the spatial and temporal distribution of products dervied from resource use. Many studies into sustainable agriculture cover more than one of these perspectives, indicating the concept is complex and embraces issues relating to the biophysical, social, and economic environments. Clarification of the concept would facilitate the development of frameworks and analytical systems for appraising the sustainability of food production systems. LRRC Contribution No. 90–46.     

珠江三角洲水土资源开发利用问题与对策

本文全面分析了珠江三角洲水土资源开发利用的现状，阐明了水土资源开发利用中出现的环境问题及原因。因此，提出了该地区水土资源进一步合理开发利用的对策。     

水稻“早育间作”技术与结果分析

本文以提高光热资源利用率、人工改变秧田微气候条件，提早中稻播期为突破口，辅之以提早移栽期和间种优质懦稻等系列配套技术措施，促成了前季中稻的早熟、高产、早收，同时又为后季再生稻创造了必要的时间和温光条件，从而使水稻单产提高２０％以上。     

SOIL MOISTURE SENSORS FOR CONTINUOUS MONITORING1

ABSTRACT: Certain physical and chemical properties of soil vary with soil water content. The relationship between these properties and water content is complex and involves both the pore structure and constituents of the soil solution. One of the most economical techniques to quantify soil water content involves the measurement of electrical resistance of a dielectric medium that is in equilibrium with the soil water content. The objective of this research was to test the reliability and accuracy of fiberglass soil-moisture electrical resistance sensors (ERS) as compared to gravimetric sampling and Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR). The response of the ERS was compared to gravimetric measurements at eight locations on the USDA-ABS Walnut Gulch Experimental Watershed. The comparisons with TDR sensors were made at three additional locations on the same watershed. The high soil rock content (≥45 percent) at seven locations resulted in consistent overestimation of soil water content by the ERS method. Where rock content was less than 10 percent, estimation of soil water was within 5 percent of the gravimetric soil water content. New methodology to calibrate the ERS sensors for rocky soils will need to be developed before soil water content values can be determined with these sensors.     

Morphologie effects of channelization: the case of the Neebing-McIntyre floodway,Thunder Bay,Ontario, Canada

The Neebing-McIntyre floodway in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, has been constructed with a relatively straight and uniform trapezoidal channel, compared with the prechannelized sinuous reaches of the Neebing and the McIntyre rivers. The flow regime of the floodway also contrasts significantly with the prechannelized regime, because of the combination of discharges from these rivers into a new channel and the regulation of flows by a diversion structure. The maximum channel capacity of the floodway is about 284 m³ s^–1 (175-year regional flood), compared with about 40 m³ s^–1 and 60 m³ s^–1, respectively, for the Neebing and the McIntyre. According to regime theories, the construction of a straight and trapezoidal channel has upset the equilibrium of the stream system and therefore should lead to some accelerated erosion and sedimentation processes in the new channel immediately after construction. Erosion potential is particularly high during higher discharge events, when flow velocities are expected to be greater than the prechannelized velocities of the Neebing and the McIntyre. The overall sediment yield of the watershed is low (71t km^–2 yr^–1), compared with other documented watersheds of North America, but the rates of deposition in the floodway are relatively high, mainly due to the backwater effect of Lake Superior. Unless maintained by constant channel work, the floodway will tend to fill up with sediment, until a postconstructional equilibrium is reestablished.     

Impact of right-of-way construction on vegetation in the Red Lake Peatland,northern Minnesota

During the winters of 1978–79 and 1979–80, a 500-kV electrical transmission right-of-way (r-o-w) was constructed across the Red Lake Peatland in northwestern Minnesota, the largest contiguous peatland in the lower 48 states of the USA. Immediately before, and for two years following construction, vascular vegetation was monitored within the r-o-w and in undisturbed control areas. Monitoring was carried out in five vegetation types: a thicket swamp, a low shrub bog, a graminoid fen, a treed bog, and a treed fen. Evaluation of construction impacts was based on vegetation structure, irrespective of species composition, and on community composition (species data for low shrubs and herbs). Construction eliminated trees from the r-o-w. Vegetation structure, excluding trees, was markedly altered in the two bog types and the treed fen type in the first postconstruction growing season. By the second season, measurable recovery to control levels had begun. The sample plots were placed into a previously developed vegetation classification system for the Red Lake Peatland, on the basis of herbs and low shrubs. There was a shift in composition in the low shrub bog and in the treed vegetation types following construction. Results of both methods of data analysis were consistent. Major vegetation changes following construction occurred in the low shrub bog and treed types. The open, low-stature fen types showed almost no changes related to construction. Even in the affected types, all vegetation strata except trees were returning to their preconstruction status by the second growing season following construction.     

四川燃煤电厂对周围土壤的辐射影响

燃煤电厂对环境与人群所产生的辐射影响早已引起了国内外学者的关注。本文通过对四川省境内重庆、河门口、江油等燃煤电厂烟尘中天然放射性水平的分析，估算出由烟尘沉降所造成周围土壤中天然放射性本底的年增加量不到０．１％，这说明由烟尘沉降每年对土壤所产生的辐射影响是较小的；然而由于沉降的放射性在相当长的时期内存在于土壤的表层，因此随电厂运转时间的增加，其所产生的辐射影响就必须引起重视了；本文通过对电厂周围表层与深层土中天然放射性水平的比较与分析说明，燃煤电厂的长期运转有可能使周围表层土壤中天然放射性本底增加。     

郫县灰潮田有效硅含量和小麦施硅效应初探

通过同田对比试验，本文对郫县水稻土小麦施用硅肥进行了初步研究．结果表明，小麦施硅获得了增产效果；施硅对小麦穗粒数、株高和基部节间体积等具有生长效应；郫县水稻土有效硅含量为１２７±３９ｍｇ·ｋｇ－１（ｎ＝１２），变异较大，与土壤粘粒（＜０．００１ｍｍ）呈极显著正相关（ｒ＝０．７９）；发育于第四系岷江灰色冲积母质的郫县水稻上，粘粘含量普遍较低，因此，郫县小麦施硅具有较大增产潜力．