Confronting coexistence in the United States: organic agriculture, genetic engineering, and the case of Roundup Ready® alfalfa

In agriculture, the principle of coexistence refers to a condition where different primary production systems can exist in the vicinity of each other, and can be managed in such a way that they affect each other as little as possible. Coexistence policies aim to ensure that farmers are able to freely grow the crops they choose—be they genetically engineered (GE), non-GE conventional, or organic. In the United States (US), the issue of coexistence has very recently come into sharp relief with the introduction of Roundup Ready^® (RR) alfalfa, a landmark court decision in 2007 (Geertson v. Johanns), and subsequent governmental actions, including the first Environmental Impact Statement on a GE crop. By contrast, in 2003 the European Union (EU) created a policy to manage coexistence and to address economic harms that may be caused by contamination. We briefly review the EU framework as an instructive resource. This policy analysis then looks at the US organic industry and its standards with respect to GE before turning to the case of RR alfalfa. With a focus on the field trial stage and on environmental assessments prior to market approval, the case reveals numerous problems in the existing regulatory framework as it pertains to coexistence and prevention of contamination of organic products with GE material. The paper concludes with specific policy recommendations for creating a more robust coexistence policy in the US.     

Foundations of production and consumption of organic food in Norway: Common attitudes among farmers and consumers?

In Norway, the production andconsumption of organic food is still small-scale. Research on attitudes towards organic farming in Norway has shown that most consumers find conventionally produced food to be good enough. The level of industrialization of agriculture and the existence of food scandals in a country will affect consumer demand for organically produced foods. Norway is an interesting case because of its small-scale agriculture, few problems with food-borne diseases, and low market share for organic food. Similarities between groups of consumers and producers of food, organic and conventional, when it comes to attitudes concerning environment, use of gene technology, and animal welfare have implications for understanding market conditions for organically produced food. The results of our study indicate that organic farmers and organic consumers in Norway have common attitudes towards environmental questions and animal welfare in Norwegian agriculture. Conventional farmers have a higher degree of agreement with the way agriculture is carried out today. Unlike organic farmers and consumers, conventional farmers do not see major environmental problems and problems with animal welfare in today's farming system. But like the organic farmers and consumers, and to a stronger degree than conventional consumers, conventional farmers renounce gene technology as a solution to environmental problems in agriculture. These results are discussed in relation to their importance for the market situation for organically produced foods.     

Understanding how farmers choose between organic and conventional production: Results from New Zealand and policy implications

Research on organic farmers is popular but has seldom specifically focused on their motivations and decision making. Results based on detailed interviews with 83 New Zealand farmers (both organic and conventional) are presented by way of a decision tree that highlights elimination factors, motivations, and constraints against action. The results show the reasons that lie behind farmers' choices of farming methods and highlight the diversity of motivations for organic farming, identifying different types of organic and conventional farmers. Policies to encourage organic production should focus on attitudes, technology, and finances.     

给农业插上科技信息的翅膀

农业科技信息是一种重要的战略资源,大力推动农业信息化,利用信息技术改造传统农业,对于推动农业科技创新和促进科技服务三农具有十分重要的作用。为了帮助农民实现"一网打天下"的目的,本文介绍了山东省农村农业信息化综合服务平台的主要功能模块,以期为农民提供一站式的农业科技信息服务,为农业发展插上科技信息的翅膀。     

环境友好型农业生态补偿实践进展

环境友好型农业是兼顾生产和环境保护的农业生产方式,具有典型的正外部性。发达国家通过生态补偿措施来激励农民采取环境友好型农业生产方式,政策措施实用且有效,推动了可持续农业的快速发展。系统综述了国内外开展环境友好型农业生态补偿的实践及其效果,并基于我国在保护性耕作、测土配方施肥、土壤有机质提升、生态农业和生态标记等方面的生态补偿实践,指出了制约我国环境友好型农业生态补偿发挥更积极作用的主要因素是补偿金额、补偿期限和补偿方式。同时,通过借鉴国外发达国家的经验,提出了建立环境友好型农业技术清单等政策建议,对于加快我国环境友好型农业生态补偿进程具有重要的意义。     

Farmers’ perception of precision technology: The case of autosteer adoption by cotton farmers

Precision agriculture and autosteer technology are, overall, profitable investments for farmers, as previous literature has established. However, what has not been investigated is whether or not farmers perceive these technologies as such. This research postulates that cotton farmers must see potential for higher profits as a result of adopting precision technologies in order to adopt it. Using the 2009 Southern Cotton Precision Farming Survey and multinomial logit model, this research investigates farmers’ perception of precision agriculture and how those perceptions impact adoption of the autosteer GPS guidance system. Autosteer adoption was found to be significant and positively related to the perceived future importance of precision agriculture as well as farmers’ ranking of input cost savings relative to other attributes of the autosteer GPS technology. Additionally, results show that the attributes of the cotton picker are also important factors in adoption of autosteer GPS technology.     

Farmers' definitions, goals, and bottlenecks of sustainable agriculture in the North-Central Region

Since its inception in 1988, the SAREprogram has sponsored hundreds of projects to exploreand apply economically viable, environmentally sound,and socially acceptable farming systems. Recognizingthat researchers often collaborated with producers andthat producer interest in sustainable agriculture wasincreasing, SARE's North-Central Region began directlyfunding farmers and ranchers in 1992 to test their ownideas on sustainable agriculture. The present articleis based on data from the formative evaluation of thefirst five years (1992 to 1996) of the NCR-SAREProducer Grant Program. The evaluation used acombination of mail surveys, non-response telephoneinterviews, and personal interviews.The evaluation revealed that the Program hassucceeded in showing that sustainable agriculturaltechnologies and practices can be viable andprofitable alternatives to conventional ways ofproducing crops and animals while simultaneously beingless environmentally damaging. On the other hand, thecontributions of the Producer Grant Program to thesocial and institutional spheres in which agricultureis embedded are less clear. Changes in these spheresare imperative for the success of sustainableagriculture, and for it to become more mainstream.Such changes cannot occur overnight, but they willremain the main challenge for SARE to tackle in thenear future.     

The arable farmer as the assessor of within-field soil variation

Feasible, fast and reliable methods of mapping within-field variation are required for precision agriculture. Within precision agriculture research much emphasis has been put on technology, whereas the knowledge that farmers have and ways to explore it have received little attention. This research characterizes and examines the spatial knowledge?arable farmers have of their fields and explores?whether it is a suitable starting point to map the within-field variation of soil properties. A case study was performed in the Hoeksche Waard, the Netherlands, at four arable farms. A combination of semi-structured interviews and fieldwork was used to map spatially explicit knowledge of within-field variation. At each farm, a field was divided into internally homogeneous units as directed by the farmer, the soil of the units was sampled and the data were analysed statistically. The results show that the farmers have considerable spatial knowledge of their fields. Furthermore, they apply this knowledge intuitively during various field management activities such as fertilizer application, soil tillage and herbicide application. The sample data on soil organic matter content, clay content and fertility show that in general the farmers?? knowledge formed a suitable starting point for mapping within-field variation in the soil. Therefore, it should also be considered as an important information source for highly automated precision agriculture systems.     

中国农业现代化路径展望

农业现代化是未来农业发展的方向,是一个不断发展的动态、综合的过程。通过对农业现代化基本内涵的梳理分析,认为农业现代化是从传统农业向现代农业转化、实现农业可持续发展、提高农民生活水平的过程,并对农业现代化的几个显著特征进行了概述。最后对中国农业现代化道路进行了展望,指出中国应从科技兴农、推动农产品深加工、促进农业产业化经营、制定完善农业相关政策、完善服务体系及促进农业可持续发展等多个方面进行农业现代化建设。     

国外农业清洁生产补偿政策模式及对我国的启示

农业清洁生产补偿已成为农业生态补偿政策研究的重要内容。发达国家通过农业补贴政策手段,鼓励农民采用环境友好型生产技术,形成有代表性的补偿政策模式,包括"美国以环保计划项目为带动的市场机制与政策调控结合型模式"、"欧盟以共同农业政策为引导的生态补偿与环境保护挂钩型模式"、"日本以环境保全型农业为特色的政府主导与公众配合互补型模式"等三种。我国重视农业清洁生产的发展,近十年来出台了一系列补偿政策措施,但针对广大农民及新型经营主体从事环境友好型生产行为的补偿政策仍不完善,补偿标准依然不高,难以调动生产者的积极性。本文梳理国外成熟的补偿政策模式,剖析我国农业清洁生产补偿政策实施的障碍因素,提出未来制定清洁生产补偿政策可借鉴的成功经验,主要包括充分尊重农民的意愿和利益,确定科学计量补偿标准的方法及健全补偿政策基础性支撑制度等。     

How organic farmers view their own practice: results from the Czech Republic

This paper addresses the development of organic agriculture in the Czech Republic, which is seen as a success story among post-communist countries. The relatively short history of organic farming and specific contextual factors raises questions about the nature and meaning of Czech organic farming. The goal of this study was to find out how farmers view their own practice, interpret its symbolic value, and construct its content. This empirical study uses Q methodology aimed at the identification of the collectively-shared perspectives belonging engaged actors. Data were gathered through semi-standardized interviews with Czech farmers registered in official organic scheme. The analysis emphasized three components, which are considered as three distinct perspectives possessed by organic farmers; that is, (1) organic farming as a way of life, (2) as an occupation, and (3) as a production of food of an alternative quality compared to conventional food. Each viewpoint entails a different understanding of what organic farming means; each then—when considered together—comprises the meaning of organic agriculture in the Czech Republic. The presented classification of the farmers holding the viewpoints contributes to the ongoing theoretical discussion regarding the nature of the current organic sector, its development and potential conventionalization.     

北京市蔬菜生产技术采纳意愿与采纳行为分析

基于北京市叶类蔬菜主产区(县)调研数据,系统地分析了北京市叶类蔬菜生产技术采纳意愿与采纳行为。分析结果表明,在技术采纳行为方面,设施蔬菜不同生产技术对蔬菜生产的重要性不同,农户对相关技术的认知与使用情况也是千差万别;在技术采纳意愿方面,病虫害防治技术需求最为强烈,面向现代农业的蔬菜信息技术虽然普及率不高,但是其应用潜力巨大。最后,从农户和技术角度提出了相关政策建议。     

Organic agriculture and the conventionalization hypothesis: A case study from West Germany

The recent growth in organic farming has given rise to the so-called “conventionalization hypothesis,” the idea that organic farming is becoming a slightly modified model of conventional agriculture. Using survey data collected from 973 organic farmers in three German regions during the spring of 2004, some implications of the conventionalization hypothesis are tested. Early and late adopters of organic farming are compared concerning farm structure, environmental concern, attitudes to organic farming, and membership in organic-movement organizations. The results indicate that organic farming in the study regions indeed exhibits signs of incipient conventionalization. On average, newer farms are more specialized and slightly larger than established ones and there is a growing proportion of farmers who do not share pro-environmental attitudes. Additionally, a number, albeit small, of very large, highly specialized farms have adopted organic agriculture in the last years. However, the vast majority of organic farmers, new and old ones included, still show a strong pro-environmental orientation. Henning Best holds a MA in Sociology, History, and Ethnology from the University of Cologne, Germany in 2002. He acquired a PhD in Economics and Social Sciences from the University of Cologne in 2006. From 2002 to 2004 he was research associate at the Research Institute for Sociology, University of Cologne. Since 2004 he is researcher and lecturer at the Institute for Applied Social Research, University of Cologne. His research interests include environmental sociology, social inequality, and quantitative methods of social research.     

桥头堡战略下的统筹城乡发展治理体系和治理能力的现代化——以云南省城乡发展一体化“蝴蝶效应”为例

城乡发展一体化是实现国家治理体系和治理能力现代化的重要环节.统筹城乡发展,就是要充分发挥工业、城市、市民对农业、农村、农民相互联系、相互依赖、相互补充、相互促进的辐射和带动作用,把工业和农业、城市和农村、市民和农民作为一个有机统一的整体,实现工农一体化、城乡一体化、农民市民一体化的有机统一.通过分析统筹城乡发展的体制机制的有机统一,讨论了增强云南省统筹城乡发展的能力的政策建议,展示了桥头堡战略下城乡发展一体化“蝴蝶效应”布局规划.     

富裕县院县科技合作共建成效与影响

黑龙江省农业科学院与富裕县紧紧围绕"五位一体"共建的内容,结合县域农业生态特点和产业结构,实施了全省第四批科技合作共建工作。通过项目实施,科技引领带动及科技创新取得了显著成效。实现了专家与农民"零距离"沟通,成果转化给种植户带来显著效益,做强做大了县域特色产业。科技合作共建对促进富裕县从传统农业向现代农业的转变产生深远影响。     

关于桦甸市农业政策性保险的调查及思考

实践证明,实施农业政策性保险在化解农业生产风险,增强风险防御能力,确保农业生产安全,提高财政支农资金效率等方面具有重要作用。特别是对于桦甸市这样一个具有丰富资源,发展潜力巨大的县级城市而言,深入开展农业政策性保险,对于调整农户种植结构,调动农民生产积极性,促进农业增资和推进新农村建设都具有重要意义。     

农业面源污染现状与治理对策探讨

针对农业面源污染的危害和特点,对农业面源污染控制技术和经济管理对策进行了较系统的分析。提出有效地控制农业面源污染途径是利用工程技术手段解决农村生活污水;利用有机农业方式解决化肥等污染;利用经济和政策手段实现环境资源有效配置。     

欠发达地区小农经济与农业现代化融合发展模式研究——以宁夏为例

本文基于对宁夏小农经济与农业现代化融合发展模式的实践考察,从宁夏农业组织发展现状出发,归纳了宁夏地区小农经济与现代农业融合发展模式及存在的问题,并提出了建议,以期为欠发达地区小农经济与农业现代化融合发展提供参考。     

宁国市农民专业合作社信息化发展探析

农民专业合作社信息化建设是发展现代农业、推进农业信息化的重要内容,是促进农民专业合作社又好又快发展的重要举措,也是农民专业合作社适应市场竞争的必然选择。宁国市通过加快农民专业合作社信息化建设步伐,让农民专业合作社步入＂信息高速公路＂,对提高农民素质和农民专业合作社综合管理服务能力起到了积极的作用,为实现＂生产在社、营销在网、业务交流、资源共享＂目标奠定了基础。