Identifying and ranking attributes that determine sustainability in Dutch dairy farming

Recent developments in agriculture have stirred up interest in the concept of sustainable farming systems. Still it is difficult to determine the extent to which certain agricultural practices can be considered sustainable or not. Aiming at identifying the necessary attributes with respect to sustainability in Dutch dairy farming in the beginning of the third millennium, we first compiled a list of attributes referring to all farming activities with their related side effects with respect to economic, internal social, external social, and ecological sustainability. A wide range of people (i.e., experts and stakeholders) were consulted to contribute to our list of attributes. Our consultation showed that only one attribute was selected for economic and internal social sustainability: profitability and working conditions, respectively. The list for external social sustainability contained 19 attributes and the list for ecological sustainability contained 15 attributes. To assess their relative importance, the same experts and stakeholders ranked the attributes for external social and ecological sustainability by using a questionnaire. The most important attributes for external social sustainability were food safety, animal health, animal welfare, landscape quality, and cattle grazing. For ecological sustainability they were eutrophication, groundwater pollution, dehydration of the soil, acidification, and biodiversity. The present method for identifying and ranking attributes is universal and, therefore, can be used for other agricultural sectors, for other countries, and for other time periods.Klaas Jan van Calker is a Researcher at the Animal Sciences Group and is doing his PhD research on sustainability of different dairy farming systems in cooperation with Business Economics of Wageningen University.Paul Berentsen is a Lecturer and Researcher at Business Economics, Wageningen University.Gerard Giesen is a Lecturer and Researcher at Business Economics, Wageningen University.Ruud Huirneis the general director of the Animal Sciences Group, and Professor of Farm Management, Wageningen University.     

我国近阶段禽流感的流行特点分析与防控对策建议

文章在分析H5亚型、H9亚型、H6亚型及H7亚型禽流感形势的基础上,研判了我国禽流感的流行趋势,并提出了防控对策.     

北京市密云县村级动物防疫员队伍建设

近年来,随着禽流感、口蹄疫等重大动物疫病的频繁暴发,使人们更加清醒地认识到动物疫病防控工作的必要性和重要性,基层动物防疫体系的建立无疑成为各级政府和各级业务部门关注的焦点。因此,加强村级动物防疫员队伍的建设成为关键性的问题,是保证畜牧业健康发展的最基础保障,北京市密云县村级动物防疫员总共387名,有畜牧兽医专业人员62名,占16.0%;高中以上学历111人,占28.7%;50岁以上222人,占57.4%,34岁以下24人,占6.2%,面对密云县村级动物防疫员队伍的现状,应不断地加大培训力度,提高人员素质,储备畜牧兽医专业技术力量,提高村级动物防疫员的待遇。     

北京市密云县重大动物疫病预防控制工作

北京市密云县是农业大县,为发展畜牧业,增加农民的收入,政府先后出台了各项优惠扶持政策,畜牧饲养业发展很快。但我们必须看到,高致病性禽流感、牲畜口蹄疫、高致病性猪蓝耳病等重大动物疫病在世界上还没有彻底消灭,国内外在局部时有发生。一旦暴发,除造成巨大经济损失外,畜禽产品得不到安全保证,而且直接危害人民生命安全,社会进步得不到保证,对此,就如何做好密云县当前的重大动物疫病的预测和有效控制,提出几点意见,这几点工作需要各级政府的大力支持和协助外,更需畜牧兽医队伍积极努力工作,提高认识,增强责任心,事业心,不断加大重大动物疫病防控力度,才能保证重大动物疫情在密云县零控制目标的实现,向社会提供更优质安全的畜禽产品,保证畜牧业健康稳步发展。     

Farmers’ Views of Soil Erosion Problems and their Conservation Knowledge at Beressa Watershed, Central Highlands of Ethiopia

Farmers’ decisions to conserve natural resources generally and soil and water particularly are largely determined by their knowledge of the problems and perceived benefits of conservation. In Ethiopia, however, farmer perceptions of erosion problems and farmer conservation practices have received little analysis or use in conservation planning. This research examines farmers’ views of erosion problems and their conservation knowledge and practices in the Beressa watershed in the central highlands of Ethiopia. Data were obtained from a survey of 147 farm households managing 713 fields during the 2002/2003 cropping season. In-depth interviews and group discussions were also held with the farmers to obtain additional information. The results show that 72% of the farmers reported erosion problems, and they recognized that conservation was necessary. However, they considered erosion to be severe mostly when visible signs – rills and gullies – appeared on their fields. The majority of the farmers believe that erosion could be halted, and they use a range of practices for erosion control and fertility improvement. These include contour plowing (83%), drainage ditches (82%), and stone terraces/bunds (73%). Nevertheless, despite decades of conservation intervention in the area, it appears that most farmers have developed negative attitudes towards externally recommended measures. The research concludes that under the conditions present in the Ethiopian central highlands, soil and water conservation interventions should consider farmers’ conservation knowledge and practices to improve acceptance and adoption of the recommendations. Aklilu Amsalu is a lecturer in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies of Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He is currently doing his PhD research on best land management practices in highland watershed management in Ethiopia in the Department of Environmental Sciences of Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands. Jan de Graaff is a senior lecturer and researcher in the Erosion and Soil and Water Conservation Group of Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands. His expertise is on impact assessment and economic evaluation of soil and water conservation.     

Hands off but Strings Attached: The Contradictions of Policy-induced Demand-driven Agricultural Extension

Although many governments have privatized their agricultural extension services, there is widespread agreement that the public sector still needs to play a role in the “agricultural knowledge market” in order to prevent market failure and other undesirable phenomena. However, appropriate mechanisms for intervention in the agricultural knowledge market are still in their infancy. This article discusses the case of the Nutrient Management Support Service (NMSS), a government-funded support service in The Netherlands designed to optimize the fit between the demand and supply of “agricultural knowledge products” that reduce nutrient emissions into the environment. The activities of the support service were four-fold: (1) distributing vouchers to farmers, (2) establishing mechanisms for quality control, (3) facilitating the articulation of end-users’ needs, and (4) improving market transparency. We analyze the extent to which the NMSS has succeeded in supporting a demand-driven knowledge market for nutrient management issues. We question some of the conceptual and practical assumptions underlying this style of intervention. In addition, we argue that the notion of demand requires considerable refinement before it can be useful for guiding state involvement in demand-driven extension. Laurens Klerkx holds a MSc in Tropical Land Use from Wageningen University. He is currently working on his PhD. His research focuses on how needs are articulated in demand-driven agricultural innovation processes and how newly emerging institutions such as knowledge brokers, knowledge networks, and innovation facilitators support this demand-driven agricultural innovation. Karin de Grip studied Tropical Agriculture (BSc) and, after working for 3 years in Indonesia in development co-operation, joined the MSc program in Management of Agri-ecological Knowledge and Social Change at Wageningen University. Her specific foci and interests include interactive knowledge development processes, learning processes, knowledge exchange and innovation networks, enforcement of knowledge markets, and demand-driven extension. Cees Leeuwis is professor of Communication and Innovation Studies at Wageningen University. He holds a MSc in Rural Sociology and a PhD in Communication and Innovation Studies. His research focuses on (a) the role of new interactive and cross-disciplinary approaches in bringing about coherent innovations, (b) the analysis of social learning and conflict management in networks, and (c) the way in which the privatization of research and extension institutions affects public sphere innovation processes.     

Antagonistic Synergy: Process and Paradox in the Development of New Agricultural Antimicrobial Regulations

There is currently great controversy over the contribution antimicrobial use in animal agriculture has made to antimicrobial resistance in pathogenic bacteria with negative consequences for human health. In light of this, the approval process for antimicrobials used in US animal agriculture, known as New Animal Drug Application or NADA, is currently being revised by the federal government. We explore the public deliberations over the development of these new policies focusing our attention on the interaction between pharmaceutical companies and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. What appears to be an antagonistic public discourse is examined in terms of its ability to simultaneously legitimate the roles of the Food and Drug Administration as the official arbiter of policy on antimicrobial use in animal agriculture and as a protector of the public welfare, as well as the role of pharmaceutical companies as the producers of safe and effective products necessary for the protection of public well-being. Wesley R. Dean is an Assistant Research Scientist in the Institute for Science, Technology and Public Policy at Texas A & M University. His PhD is in Sociology from the University of Alberta where he wrote a dissertation on the Canadian HIV-tainted blood scandal. He is currently engaged in research on USDA-CSREES National Integrated Food Safety Initiative, a project to systematically characterize antimicrobial decision-making in US animal agriculture. H. Morgan Scott earned a DVM from the University of Saskatchewan and a Ph.D. in Epidemiology from the University of Guelph. He is an assistant professor at Texas A&M University in the Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences. He is currently conducting epidemiological research on the transference of resistant genes from swine to human host populations and he is the principal investigator on the USDA-CSREES National Integrated Food Safety Initiative.     

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.     

禽流感疫情影响下家禽产业链价格波动及其动态关系研究

我国是禽流感多发地区,重大禽流感疫情对家禽产业的市场供求有着重大的影响。本文基于1998年1月-2014年12月肉鸡产业链以及蛋鸡产业链的月度价格数据,以我国内地已发生的三次重大禽流感疫情为背景,运用误差修正模型分析了历次禽流感疫情冲击对家禽产业链各产品价格的影响程度,并基于有向无环图(DAG)技术以及历史分解方法分析了禽流感疫情发生后各个产品价格之间的动态关系。研究表明:肉雏鸡价格对禽流感疫情最为敏感,跌幅最高可达27%,蛋雏鸡次之;在禽类之间传播的禽流感疫情对家禽产业具有短期冲击效应,当发生人感染禽流感疫情时,家禽产业至少需要13个月恢复至原有价格水平;疫情发生后,活鸡、肉雏鸡价格下降分别对禽肉和鸡苗价格下跌的贡献程度最大,而鸡肉和鸡蛋价格的率先上涨推动了禽肉市场的恢复。在此基础上提出了适时启动鸡苗补贴、推广冷鲜鸡肉消费习惯、加强银保合作等应对禽流感疫情风险的政策建议。     

重组禽流感病毒H7N9 H7-Re1株培养条件的优化

【背景】高致病性禽流感疫情的暴发造成了巨大的经济损失和环境卫生的破坏,现阶段疫苗接种仍是我国控制禽流感的主要措施之一,需要大量安全、高效和低成本的禽流感病毒疫苗。鸡胚法制备禽流感病毒疫苗的工艺存在原料来源受限、过程复杂、个体差异、培养周期长和不易放大培养等缺陷。而利用生物反应器大规模培养动物细胞生产病毒疫苗,不仅可以大幅度提高单位产量,实现高密度细胞和高病毒产率,同时可保证产品质量。目前我国用于禽流感防控的疫苗为重组禽流感病毒(H5+H7)二价灭活疫苗(H5N1 Re-8株+H7N9 H7-Re1株)。国内细胞全悬浮工艺生产禽流感灭活疫苗单罐产能最大为6 000 L,高病毒含量抗原的提供是生产高效疫苗的主要影响因素之一。【目的】为了能够提供稳定的、高效的生产抗原,开展种毒驯化试验。【方法】将重组禽流感病毒H7N9 H7-Re1株分别在MDCK细胞及悬浮MDCK细胞上增殖。在MDCK细胞上通过不同的病毒接种剂量、不同收获时间、不同TPCK-胰酶浓度的试验,确定了H7N9 H7-Re1株在MDCK细胞上最佳收获时间为64 h,最佳接毒剂量为0.008%或MOI为10~(-4),最佳TPCK-胰酶浓度为2μg·mL~(-1),根据确定的最佳培养条件连续传代,并对各代次病毒含量进行检测。【结果】在MDCK细胞上传至第5代时,HA可达1﹕256,每1 mL病毒含量达到10~(8.5)TCID50,每0.1 mL病毒含量达到10~(8.5)EID50,均高于其他代次。【结论】将第5代确定为MDCK细胞传代最佳代次,可考虑确定为生产用基础种毒代次。在悬浮MDCK细胞上对重组禽流感病毒传代进行了优化试验,确定了H7N9 H7-Re1株在悬浮MDCK细胞上最佳收获时间为48 h,最佳接毒剂量MOI为10~(-2),最佳TPCK-胰酶浓度为4—8μg·mL~(-1)。在实际疫苗生产过程中,可选择MDCK细胞或悬浮MDCK细胞来扩繁种毒。     

2株H9N2流感病毒的分离及HA基因序列分析

为掌握近年来H9亚型禽流感的流行状况和遗传变异规律,从河南、陕西发病养殖场采集病料,用鸡胚接种法分离病毒,并用RT-PCR法对分离出的H9N2AIV的HA基因进行扩增、克隆、测序及对得到的序列进行同源性和遗传性分析。结果表明:获得了2株H9N2亚型流感病毒,这2株病毒HA基因变异程度不大,核苷酸序列和氨基酸同源性分别为97.1%和97.8%,均属于BJ/1/94分支(Y280小分支)。从分子水平分析,这2株病毒均属于低致病力的H9N2禽源流感病毒。     

Designing sustainable agriculture education: Academics’ suggestions for an undergraduate curriculum at a land grant university

Historically, land grant universities and their colleges of agriculture have been discipline driven in both their curricula and research agendas. Critics call for interdisciplinary approaches to undergraduate curriculum. Concomitantly, sustainable agriculture (SA) education is beginning to emerge as a way to address many complex social and environmental problems. University of California at Davis faculty, staff, and students are developing an undergraduate SA major. To inform this process, a web-based Delphi survey of academics working in fields related to SA was conducted. Faculty from colleges and universities across the US were surveyed. Participants suggested that students needed knowledge of natural and social science disciplines relating to the agri-food system. In addition, stakeholders suggested students learn through experiences that link the classroom to field work, engaging a broad range of actors within applied settings. Stakeholders also emphasized the need for interdisciplinary and applied scholarship. Additionally, they proposed a range of teaching and learning approaches, including many practical experiences. Given the diverse suggestions of content knowledge and means of producing knowledge, the survey presented unique challenges and called into question the epistemological and pedagogical norms currently found in land grant colleges of agriculture. This study has implications for land grant universities seeking to develop undergraduate curriculum appropriate to the field of SA. Damian M. Parr is a doctoral student of Agricultural and Environmental Education, in the School of Education at the University of California at Davis. His professional interests include organic farming, sustainable agriculture, experiential and transformational learning, critical pedagogy, and participatory action research. He is currently working on linking on-campus student initiated sustainable farm and food systems projects to curricula at land grant universities Cary J. Trexler is an assistant professor of Agricultural and Environmental Education at the University of California at Davis where he teaches courses in the history of agricultural education, experiential learning, and research methods for practicing teachers. His research focuses on experiential learning, sustainable agriculture education, and needs of teachers and informal educators within the context of the agri-food system Navina R. Khanna is a graduate student pursuing an MS in International Agricultural Development at the University of California at Davis. She is committed to facilitating community dialogue and education about sustainability issues. Her work at the university focuses on the process and goal of sustainability in agricultural education and campus food system sustainability. Her primary professional interests include democratic participatory process in agri-food system sustainability and urban revitalization Bryce T. Battisti is a doctoral student of Agricultural and Environmental Education, in the School of Education at the University of California at Davis. His research interests include the development of alternative models for university education that are founded on student-centered experiential learning. Specifically, he studies models of permaculture education that lead toward accredited degrees and relates these models to sustainable agriculture degree programs     

A methodology for tracking the “fate” of technological interventions in agriculture

The primary focus of agricultural research and extension in eastern Africa is technology generation and dissemination. Despite prior critiques of the shortcomings of this approach, the consequences of such activities continue to be measured through the number of technologies developed and introduced into the supply chain. At best, impact is assessed by the total numbers of adopters and by the household and system factors influencing adoption. While the diffusion research tradition has made substantive advances in recent decades, attention to what happens to technologies after adaptive, on-farm research trials continues to be limited in practice. While a host of newer approaches designed to correct for past shortcomings in diffusion research is now available, integrative methodologies that capitalize on the strengths of these different traditions are sorely needed. This article presents a more encompassing methodology for tracking the fate of technological interventions, illustrating the potential applications of findings for enhancing the positive impact of agricultural research and extension in the region. Laura German holds a BSc in Agricultural Engineering from Cornell University (2001) and a PhD in Ecological Anthropology from the University of Georgia (2001). Following many years of involvement in Latin America, she took a position in 2002 as Scientist for the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) under the African Highlands Initiative, an ecoregional program of the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and a network of the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in East and Central Africa. Her current research interests include theoretical and applied work in three main areas: (1) research-development linkages; (2) integrated natural resource management at the landscape/micro-catchment scale; and (3) collective action in natural resource management. Jeremias Mowo holds a BSc in Agriculture (1979) from Dar Es Salaam University and an MSc (1983) and PhD (2000) in Soil Science from Wageningen University. He worked as soil fertility specialist in cotton-based agro-ecosystems for 11 years and coordinated soil research in Tanzania for four years. From 1998 to 2005, he worked under the African Highlands Initiative as Coordinator for the Lushoto Benchmark Site in Tanzania. In May 2005, he took up a two-year contract with the Institut des Sciences Agronomiques du Rwanda (ISAR) as Senior Scientist in Soil and Water Management Research where he is currently spearheading the Integrated Watershed Management approach. His research interests include integrated natural resource management, farmer participatory research, methods and approaches for technology transfer, soil and water management research, organic farming and use of indigenous knowledge in soil management. Margaret Kingamkono holds a BSc in Agriculture (1994) and an MSc in Agriculture (1996) from the Sokoine University of Agriculture. Since 1995, she has worked for the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security in Tanzania with a focus on livestock production. She has carried out extensive collaborative work on areas of land resource management, participatory approaches, and crop-livestock-agroforestry interactions. Her research interests include gender and development and integrated natural resource management.     

Farmer-Community Connections and the Future of Ecological Agriculture in California

While questions about the environmental sustainability of contemporary farming practices and the socioeconomic viability of rural communities are attracting increasing attention throughout the US, these two issues are rarely considered together. This paper explores the current and potential connections between these two aspects of sustainability, using data on community members’ and farmers’ views of agricultural issues in California’s Central Valley. These views were collected from a series of individual and group interviews with biologically oriented and conventional farmers as well as community stakeholders. Local marketing, farmland preservation, and perceptions of sustainable agriculture comprised the primary topics of discussion. The mixed results indicate that, while many farmers and community members have a strong interest in these topics, sustainable community development and the use of sustainable farming practices are seldom explicitly linked. On the other hand, many separate efforts around the Valley to increase local marketing and agritourism, improve public education about agriculture, and organize grassroots farmland preservation initiatives were documented. We conclude that linking these efforts more explicitly to sustainable agriculture and promoting more engagement between ecologically oriented farmers and their communities could engender more economic and political support for these farmers, helping them and their communities to achieve greater sustainability in the long run. Sonja Brodt is a former program evaluation specialist with the University of California Integrated Pest Management Program. Her current research focuses on extension and adoption of integrated pest management strategies by California growers and the impacts of pesticide safety training programs on farmworkers. Gail Feenstra is a food systems analyst at the University of California Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (SAREP). She coordinates SAREP’s Community Development and Public Policy grants program and conducts outreach and education to academic and community-based groups to build their capacity and leadership skills for developing sustainable community food systems. Robin Kozloff is a social science researcher and consultant in agricultural and land use policy. Karen Klonsky is an extension specialist at the University of California at Davis in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics. Her research focuses on the economic viability of organic and sustainable farming systems as well as the evolution of the organic market. Laura Tourte is county director and farm advisor at the University of California Cooperative Extension in Santa Cruz County. Her research and extension activities currently focus on farm management and marketing for small-scale growers.     

金昌市金川区规模养殖场主要疫病抗体监测分析

采用正向间接血凝试验、血凝抑制试验方法检测了金川区10家规模养殖场442份血清4种疫病抗体水平。检测结果显示:口蹄疫、猪瘟、高致病性禽流感、新城疫抗体合格率分别为88.53%、80.00%、82.82%、79.14%,4种疫病免疫效果良好。     

高致病性禽流感对我国肉鸡产业的影响

肉鸡产业是我国畜牧业的重要组成部分,但深受高致病性禽流感的影响。为评估每次疫病带来的经济损失,保障肉鸡产业健康稳定发展,在肉鸡供需局部均衡模型引入高致病性禽流感冲击参数,构建测算高致病性禽流感对肉鸡产业经济影响的模型。通过对高致病性禽流感对我国肉鸡产业影响程度的测算发现,该疫情对鸡肉生产、消费、出口、进口的弹性系数是-0.003、-0.01、-0.021和-0.049。2004年和2005年的疫情对我国肉鸡产业的影响最为严重;2004-2009年,高致病性禽流感疫情造成我国鸡肉消费的总损失量最大,进口次之,其次是生产,最后是出口。因此,模型结果有助于加深对高致病性禽流感对肉鸡产业经济影响的认识,研究方法也适合研究自然灾害对其他产业的经济影响。     

Retail relations: an interlocking directorate analysis of food retailing corporations in the United States

The US food retailing industry continues to concentrate and consolidate. Power in the agriculture, food, and nutrition system has shifted from producers to processors, and is now shifting to retailers. Currently, only eight food-retailing corporations control the majority of food sales in the United States. Expanding on previous research by Lyson and Raymer (2000, Agriculture and Human Values 17: 199–208), this paper examines the characteristics of the boards of directors of the leading food retailing corporations and the indirect interlocks that bind the food retailers into a corporate community. Rachel Schwartz is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Development Sociology at Cornell University. Her research interests are focused on the relationship between food retailers and food consumers in the United States, especially in regards to the construction of the concept of “choice.” Thomas Lyson was Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor in the Department of Development Sociology at Cornell University. His interests included the relationship of agriculture and food systems on community economic development and population health. His most recent book, Civic Agriculture, developed a problem-solving model for food and agriculture issues. Dr. Lyson passed away in December 2006.     

Lessons for farmer-oriented research: Experiences from a West African soil fertility management project

Donors, scientists and farmers all benefit when research and development projects have high impact. However, potential benefits are sometimes not realized. Our objective in this study is to determine why resource-poor farmers in Togo (declined to) adopt recommended practices that were promoted through a multi-organizational project on soil fertility management. We examine the processes and outcomes related to the adoption process. The project was undertaken in three villages in the Central Region of Togo in West Africa. The development and research processes that took place during the implementation of the project were critically analyzed using a conceptual framework that may be useful for improving the impact of future participatory projects. At the macro level, opportunities for innovation were not deliberately explored with participating farmers and other village members; consequently “pre-analytical choices” made during the planning phase resulted in practices that resource-poor farmers were, for a variety of reasons, unable or unwilling to adopt. From the outset, donors and scientists focused on soil fertility management, but failed to take into account the wider economic context within which soil fertility management took place. This was a major obstacle to the subsequent adoption of recommended management strategies. Scientists and donor partners measured the success of the Project in terms of crop productivity, but farmers’ choices were influenced by a complex mix of socio-economic, political and technical factors. We also illustrate the importance of selecting appropriate categories of farmers for a particular experiment. We conclude that for participatory research and development projects to be successful, it is not enough to develop technologies that “work” in a technical sense. In order to be scaled up and widely implemented, such technologies must also meet a variety of needs of resource-poor farmers and be acceptable from a socio-cultural point of view. Suzanne Nederlof holds a PhD in Communication and Innovation Studies from Wageningen University in the Netherlands. After finishing her MSc. degree in Development Sociology at the same university she worked at a research project in Burkina Faso and at the International Center for Soil Fertility and Agricultural Development (IFDC) in Togo. Subsequently, she was based at the FAO regional office for Africa in Ghana, assigned to the Convergence of Sciences Program. She conducted the fieldwork for this article during that period. She completed her PhD research on agricultural research with a scholarship from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research. She is currently employed as an advisor in rural innovation at the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Constant Dangbégnon worked for several years (1990–1998) on Inter-University Cooperation (Benin, the Netherlands and Israel) in the area of indigenous knowledge and the soft side of natural resource management. This work constituted the basis of his PhD from Wageningen University in The Netherlands. He joined IFDC – Africa Division in Lomé (Togo) in June 1999 as a socio-economic extension specialist in the Input Accessibility Program (IAP).     

From burgers to biodiversity? The McDonaldization of on-farm nature conservation in the UK

This paper uses George Ritzer’s account of McDonaldization – the socially transformative process of rationalization – to undertake a critical analysis of agri-environment schemes, the dominant form of on-farm nature conservation in England. Drawing on a wide range of evidence, including social surveys of the participants and non-participants of agri-environment schemes, government files, and interviews with government officials, the four key dimensions of McDonaldization – efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control (through non-human technologies) – are applied to the analysis of agri-environment schemes. The irrationalities emerging from a McDonaldized approach to nature conservation are discussed together with their implications for farmers, nature, and society. In conclusion, the paper points to the emergence of alternative models of on-farm nature conservation that may offer ways of resisting and displacing the McDonaldized version. Carol Morris is Professor of Geography at the University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK. Her research is broadly concerned with the application of social scientific approaches to the critical analysis of issues and problems affecting the rural environment and agro-food system in British and European contexts. Matt Reed is Research Fellow in the ESRC Centre for the Study of Genomics in Society (EGENIS), University of Exeter, UK and a visiting Fellow in the Centre for Rural Research at the University of Exeter, UK. The main focus of his research has been the organic food and farming movement, but he also has conducted research on family farming, rural protest movements, and the local food economy.     

H9N2禽流感病毒全基因组密码子使用偏好性及影响因素分析

【目的】探究H9N2禽流感病毒(AIV)全基因组的密码子使用偏好性及影响因素。【方法】选取2010—2018年国内H9N2 AIV流行毒株的全基因组为研究对象,分析其碱基组成特性、最优密码子、密码子使用偏好性的影响因素以及病毒对宿主密码子使用模式的适应性。【结果】H9N2 AIV的全基因组中AU含量高于GC。大部分最优密码子以A或U结尾,有效密码子数(ENC)平均值为52.86,提示存在密码子使用偏好性但偏好性较低。密码子使用偏好性主要受到突变压力和自然选择的共同作用,其中自然选择(所占比例为61.79%～76.15%)作用大于突变压力(所占比例为23.85%～38.21%)。H9N2 AIV对人Homo sapiens的密码子适应指数平均值为0.739～0.741,提示H9N2AIV禽流感病毒可能已适应人类的密码子使用模式。【结论】本研究为H9N2 AIV的基因进化分析、已有疫苗的密码子优化和新型疫苗(密码子去优化疫苗)研制提供了理论依据。