The fish connection: a trophic link between planktonic and rocky reef communities?

The blacksmith (Chromis punctipinnis), an abundant pomacentrid fish off southern California, regularly forages on zooplankton during the day and shelters in rocky reefs at night. This behavioral pattern results in the importation of 8 grams of carbon per square meter per year, deposited as feces in the nocturnal shelter. Since blacksmiths regularly return to the same shelters, this represents a transport of extrinsic organic carbon to the reef which is predictable in time and space.     

Blair＇s Positioning and Adjnsstment on the Relation between The British Labor Party and the Trade Unions

基于1980年代以来工党和保守党处理工会问题的经验教训以及工会的新变化,1994年出任工党领袖的布莱尔把对工会的定位由工党的劳工运动盟友转变为社会合作伙伴,对工会开始采取疏远和强硬的态度,尽力削弱附属工会在党内的权力。布莱尔对工党与工会关系的调整总体上是成功的,但也产生工党失去身份特征、核心选民减少等问题,对此要给予全面辩证地认识。     

Do locavores have a dilemma? Economic discourse and the local food critique

Local food critics have recently argued that locavores, unaware of economic laws and principles, are ironically promoting a future characterized by less food security and more environmental destruction. In this paper, we critically examine the ways in which mainstream economics discourse is employed in arguments to undermine the proclaimed benefits of local food. We focus on several core concepts in economics—comparative advantage, scale, trade and efficiency—and show how they have been used to challenge claims about local food’s benefits in the areas of economy, environment, food security, and food quality. After reviewing the arguments, we then evaluate some shortcomings that emerge from this reliance on economic logic and, importantly, we assess what local food proponents may take away from these critiques. We conclude by identifying several pathways for future research.     

Are local food and the local food movement taking us where we want to go? Or are we hitching our wagons to the wrong stars?

Much is being made of local food. It is at once a social movement, a diet, and an economic strategy—a popular solution—to a global food system in great distress. Yet, despite its popularity or perhaps because of it, local food (especially in the US) is also something of a chimera if not a tool of the status quo. This paper reflects on and contrasts aspects of current local food rhetoric with Dalhberg’s notion of a regenerative food system. It identifies three problematic emphases—the locavore emphasis, the Wal-Mart emphasis, and the Pollan emphasis—and argues that they are shifting local food (as a concept and a social movement) away from the deeper concerns of equity, citizenship, place-building, and sustainability. It is suggested that local food activists and advocates might consider the use of multiple methodologies and forms of expression to explore the integration and reintegration of local food into diverse and redundant place-based practice. A short case study of a low-income, urban neighborhood in Lansing, Michigan, illustrates the value of contextual analysis for more fully enabling the local food movement and a regenerative food system.     

The Preliminary Study on the Converting Measures between the Four Waters in Wet and Low—lying Farmland

1　IntroductionSanjiang plain—— the main wet land distributing area and the important commodity grain base of ourcounty,is located in the northeastpartof Heilongjiang Province.And there is370 .1 0× 1 0 4hm2 cropping ar-eas including 2 0 6.70× 1 0 4hm2 low and wet land,5 9% of which is the cultivated areas.For getting higherand more stable agricultural production,during the 1 970 s and the 1 980 s Chinese governmenthas organizedan intensive scientific research on the converting law between…     

“Conservative” ideology and the politics of local food

Analysis of conservative political participation in local food initiatives tends to be critical and dismissive, positing this participation as self-serving, individualistic, exclusionary, nativist, or reactionary. While there are nefarious aspects to certain forms of conservative local food politics, my research at three farmers’ markets in the Upper Midwest reveals that self-identified conservatives can and do hold more nuanced positions. Those with whom I met recognize the need for both local and broader change, are concerned about marginalized and struggling people, are troubled by the impacts of conventional agriculture on the health of farmers, consumers, and other species, and are humble and willing to listen to other perspectives. Most analyses of food systems miss these nuanced perspectives because they approach American political ideology through a rigid left–right binary. Using more fluid approaches to understanding political ideology can create room for recognizing the complexity and diversity of views pigeon-holed under the label of “conservatism.” Along with these different approaches, a politics of empathy and mutual respect across ideological difference can help reveal common values, concerns, and aspirations for changing the food system. Recognizing these commonalities can help build a broader base of support for food system transformation.     

Testing the local reality: does the Willamette Valley growing region produce enough to meet the needs of the local population? A comparison of agriculture production and recommended dietary requirements

Eating locally continues to be promoted as an alternative to growing concerns related to industrialized, global, corporate agriculture. Buying from local famers and producers is seen as a way to promote a healthier diet, reduce environmental impacts, and sustain communities. The promotion of the local food movement presents the question: is it possible to feed a community primarily from the foods produced locally? We conducted a systematic analysis comparing the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) recommended dietary requirements for the estimated 2008 population with annual local agricultural production for the years 2004–2008 within the counties of the Willamette Valley growing region. Our results indicate that current agricultural production in this highly fertile region does not meet the dietary needs of the local inhabitants for any of the USDA’s six food groups: grains, vegetables, fruits, dairy, meat and beans, and oils. In the most recent year of our analysis, 2008, Willamette Valley agriculture production met 67% of annual required grains, 10% of vegetable needs, 24% of fruits, 59% of dairy, 58% of meat and beans, and 0% of dietary oil requirements. Over the past 5 years there have been significant fluctuations in crop production, particularly in 2006 when grain yields dropped to 29% of needs met. Additionally, many of these commodities are exported as cash crops, thus not contributing to meeting local food needs. We discuss these results as well as areas of potential for increasing production of edible crops for local consumption in the region.     

How do communities act? Unique events and purposeful strategies in the formation of an industrial base in rivertown

Using an ethnographic case study, this research examines three competing hypotheses of how a community acts. The study attempts to reconstruct the events that led various actors in the community to seek the formation of an industrial base as an alternative economic source for the community. The roles of unique events, specific persons and particular strategies in the formation of the industrial base are examined. It was found that unique events play a very important role in the community's concern over economic alternatives to agriculture and their success in securing such alternatives. These events were also important to key individuals within the community, placing them in positions to act in the industrial base formation. Strategies of community action used in the industrial base formation and since that time were found to be consistent with the centralized weak-tie network hypothesis of action or ganization. This type of community action organization seems to be very effective at the community level but tends to be very exclusionary of the community population as a whole.1. Research supported in part by Project Nos. MO-00239; MO-00237; and MO-00240 of the Missouri Agriculture Experiment Station. This research is part of a larger study through the Missouri Agriculture Experiment Station and the University of Missouri-Columbia Department of Rural Sociology on Rural Community Viability. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Southern Agricultural Sciences Annual Meeting in Little Rock, Ark., February, 1990.     

Studies on the Relationship between the Follicular Blood Micro—Circulation and Ovulation

Twelve purebred Har Bai rabbits with a body weight of 3-4 kg were seleeted and divided in-to four groups at random.they were treated with FSH and hCG atfter the second estrus,The four groups of rabbits were killed at the beginning of estrus ,the beginning of ovulation,15h and 39 h after the beginning of ovulation respectively ,The follicles of 0.5-2 mm in diameter were dissected from the ovaries were fixed ,sectioned ,mounted and stained for examination under light and elec-tron microscopes,The results showed that blood micro-circulation of follicles at the onset of esturs was normal and cells of the theca interna and granular cells were active in metabolism in most of the follicles ,examined at the beginning of ovulation,the blood micro-circulation became disordered,the cells became not active in matbolism and follicular stigmaes appeared at the upper wall of the follicles .At 15 h after the beginning of ovulation ,the unovulated follicles whic were developing into follicular corpus luteam had normal blood micro-circulation,At 39 h after the beginning of ovulation most of the follicles began to degenerate,In was coneluded that there was a close relationship between blood micro-circulation of follicele and the ovulation.     

Civic government or market-based governance? The limits of privatization for rural local governments

Thomas Lyson argued that civic markets were possible and could have positive impacts on rural development. Increasingly local governments are being forced into market-based governance regimes of privatization, decentralization and free trade. This article explores the impacts of these trends on rural local governments in the US. These market trends can erode civic foundations, but recent data show local governments are balancing markets with civic concerns and giving increased attention to citizen interests in the service delivery process.     

Can public GAP standards reduce agricultural pesticide use? The case of fruit and vegetable farming in northern Thailand

In response to the chronic overuse and misuse of pesticides in agriculture, governments in Southeast Asia have sought to improve food safety by introducing public standards of good agricultural practices (GAP). Using quantitative farm-level data from an intensive horticultural production system in northern Thailand, we test if fruit and vegetable producers who follow the public GAP standard use fewer and less hazardous pesticides than producers who do not adhere to the standard. The results show that this is not the case. By drawing on qualitative data from expert interviews and an action research project with local litchi (“lychee”) producers we explain the underlying reasons for the absence of significant differences. The qualitative evidence points at poor implementation of farm auditing related to a program expansion that was too rapid, at a lack of understanding among farmers about the logic of the control points in the standard, and at a lack of alternatives given to farmers to manage their pest problems. We argue that by focusing on the testing of farm produce for pesticide residues, the public GAP program is paying too much attention to the consequences rather than the root cause of the pesticide problem; it needs to balance this by making a greater effort to change on-farm practices.