Sustainability and multifunctionality in French farms: Analysis of the implementation of Territorial Farming Contracts

Sustainable agriculture and ways to achieve it are important issues for agricultural policy. However, the concept of sustainability has yet to be made operational in many agricultural situations, and only a few studies so far have addressed the implementation process of sustainable agriculture. This paper provides an assessment of the Territorial Farming Contracts (TFC) – the French model for implementing sustainable agriculture – and aims to give some insights into the ways to facilitate the development of sustainable farming. Using a systems approach, the founding concept of the TFC model, an analysis has been made of the TFCs signed in the Midi-Pyrenees Region in south-western France. The results show that the first aspect of sustainability apparent in farmers’ projects referred to economic objectives. The environmental and social aspects were not foremost in the farming changes undertaken. In addition, the territorial dimension of the TFC was under-addressed. The majority of TFCs reveal a moderate or even low convergence with territorial priorities. These results are explained partly by the dominance of professional farming organizations in the implementation of TFC, and they imply that the organizational social dimensions of sustainability must not be neglected. Mohamed Gafsi is an assistant professor of farm management at the National School of Agronomic Training. He received his PhD in management science at the University of Bourgogne. His research interests include farm management and protection of natural resources, corporate environmental management, sustainable agriculture, and African family farms. Geneviève Nguyen is assistant professor in rural economics at the National Polytechnique Institute – National Superior School of Agronomy, in Toulouse. Her research interests include the dynamics of agrarian institutions in uncertain economies, the supply and organization of services in remote rural areas. Her research has been carried out in Europe, Africa, and Asia. She received her MA in Economics and her PhD in Agricultural Economics from the Ohio State University. Bruno Legagneux is assistant professor of farm management at the National Polytechnique Institute – National Superior School of Agronomy, in Toulouse. His research interests include farm management and the entry of young farmers into farming. Patrice Robin is an engineer agronomist. He received his diploma from the National Superior School of Agronomy, in Montpellier. He is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Toulouse. His research interests include agriculture and rural development, environmental issues, and food quality.     

Widespread persistent thickening of the East Antarctic ice sheet by freezing from the base

An International Polar Year aerogeophysical investigation of the high interior of East Antarctica reveals widespread freeze-on that drives substantial mass redistribution at the bottom of the ice sheet. Although the surface accumulation of snow remains the primary mechanism for ice sheet growth, beneath Dome A, 24% of the base by area is frozen-on ice. In some places, up to half of the ice thickness has been added from below. These ice packages result from the conductive cooling of water ponded near the Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountain ridges and the supercooling of water forced up steep valley walls. Persistent freeze-on thickens the ice column, alters basal ice rheology and fabric, and upwarps the overlying ice sheet, including the oldest atmospheric climate archive, and drives flow behavior not captured in present models.     

Impact of a soil feeding termite,<Emphasis Type="Italic"> Cubitermes niokoloensis</Emphasis>, on the symbiotic microflora associated with a fallow leguminous plant<Emphasis Type="Italic"> Crotalaria ochroleuca</Emphasis>

The influence of a soil-feeding termite nest (Cubitermes nikoloensis) on the development of a symbiotic microflora (rhizobia, arbuscular mycorrhizas) was tested in a pot experiment with a tropical legume (Crotalaria ochroleuca). Our results confirmed the role of soil-feeding termite nests as sites of high nutrient concentration, as a significantly higher content of available P and mineral-N was found in the mound wall. Arbuscular mycorrhizal spores increased in the soil near the termite mound. The mound soil itself almost totally depressed mycorrhizal establishment. The positive effect of the soils close to the mound was also evidenced by the number of nodules per root system as well as the nodule biomass per legume plant grown on this medium. Better growth of Crotalaria seedlings was observed in the soils from the mound wall; the shoot biomass increased by a factor of 9 and the root biomass by a factor of 6 as compared to the control soil (10 m away from the mound). Plant growth on soils from the immediate vicinity of the mound showed intermediate results but a higher N content per biomass unit. This probably reflected the association with arbuscular mycorrhiza and rhizobia. This work evidenced the linkage of plant nutrition to nutrient availability in mound material and the indirect mediating effect of the symbiotic microflora.     

Developing programs to monitor ecosystem health and effectiveness of management practices on Lakes States National Forests, USA

Assessing accomplishment of management objectives related to ecosystem health requires monitoring key indicators, including ecological processes and components of biological diversity. For these purposes, a monitoring plan was developed on the Chequamegon National Forest. It was refined by use of public workshops and technical consultation, and later adjusted based on practicality and additional inventory needs. To date, monitoring has focused on plants and birds, including long-term baseline monitoring in both managed forest and more natural areas. Monitoring is done at both the national forest and the ranger district levels, a forest subunit, the latter usually focusing on specific projects rather than forestwide ecosystem health concerns. Examples from the Laurentian ranger district of the Superior National Forest are provided. Future assessments will require qualitative, quantitative and spatial analyses of community, ecosystem, habitat and population trends and patterns, and management effects. An institutionalized program that focuses on key ecosystem components at various scales, and that involves concerned publics and many partners, will be necessary to provide feedback to refine forest management.     

A rapid aflatoxin B1 ELISA: development and validation with reduced matrix effects for peanuts, corn, pistachio, and Soybeans

Among the competitive ELISAs for aflatoxins that have been described, few have been adequately validated for reduced matrix effects. Using an aflatoxin B(1) (AFB(1))-specific polyclonal antibody (produced from AFB(1)-oxime conjugated to bovine serum albumin (BSA)) and AFB(1)- and AFB(2)-enzyme conjugates, four direct competitive ELISAs based on 96-microwell plates (two standard assays and two rapid assays) were developed, paying special attention to producing a robust assay relatively free of interferences for a range of agricultural products. The antibody was AFB(1)-specific, detecting only AFB(1) in a mixture of four aflatoxins (AFB(1), AFB(2), AFG(1), and AFG(2)), but showed significant cross-reaction with AFG(1) (57-61%) when an individual compound was tested. Standard assays (long assays) exhibited higher sensitivities than rapid assays (short assays) with IC(50) values of 12 +/- 1.5 and 9 +/- 1.5 microg/kg in sample (with 1 in 5 dilution of sample extract) for AFB(1) and AFB(2)-enzyme conjugates, respectively. These assays have narrower detection ranges (7.1-55.5 microg/kg in sample) and required dilution of sample extracts to overcome solvent and matrix interferences, making these assays less ideal as analytical methods. Rapid assays exhibited IC(50) values of 21.6 +/- 2.7 and 12 microg/kg in sample for AFB(1)- and AFB(2)-enzyme conjugates, respectively. These assays have ideally broader detection ranges (4.2-99.9 microg/kg in sample) and showed no methanol effects up to 80% with significantly reduced matrix interferences as a result of the shorter incubation times and increasing the amounts of enzyme conjugate used. Therefore, the rapid assays were formatted to perform without a need for extract dilution. The rapid assays can be completed within 15 min, potentially suitable for receival bays where quick decision-making to segregate low and high contamination is critical. Further validation using the rapid assay with AFB(1)-enzyme conjugate indicated relatively good recoveries of AFB(1) spiked in corn, peanuts, pistachio, and soybeans, which were free from significant matrix effects. It can be concluded that this rapid assay would be suitable for monitoring aflatoxin AFB(1) at current legal maximum residue limits of 10 microg/kg in food such as corn, peanuts, pistachio, and soybeans.     

Enhancement of tofu isoflavone recovery by pretreatment of soy milk with koji enzyme extract

Isoflavones are novel nutraceutical constituents of soybeans, but considerable amounts are lost in the whey during conventional tofu manufacturing. In this study, in a small-scale process, 2 mL of koji enzyme extract (soybean koji/deionized water, 1/3, w/v) was combined with 600 mL of soy milk, and 30 mL aliquots were incubated at 35 degrees C for 0, 30, 60, 120, and 300 min, for enzyme pretreatment. After each treatment time, soy milk was heated to 85 degrees C, CaSO4 was added to aggregate protein, and the mixture was centrifuged to separate the solids (tofu) from the whey. The tofu yield and moisture contents from soy milk treated for 30 or 60 min were higher than those from soy milk treated for 0 (control), 120, or 300 min. The protein content of freeze-dried tofu varied in a limited range, and native PAGE and SDS-PAGE patterns revealed slight quantitative and qualitative variations among products. Soy milk daidzein and genistein contents increased while daidzin and genistin contents decreased as the time of enzyme pretreatment of the soy milk increased. After 30 min of pretreatment, daidzin, genistin, daidzein, and genistein contents recovered in tofu products were higher than those of the control. In a pilot-scale process, aliquots (3 L) of soy milk were enzyme-treated for 30 min, aggregated with CaSO4, and hydraulically pressed to remove the whey. As in pretreatments, soy milk daidzein and genistein contents increased while daidzin and genistin contents decreased. In a comparison of the control and enzyme-treated tofu products, the total recoveries of daidzin, genistin, daidzein, and genistein in the tofu products increased from 54.9% to 64.2%. When the tofu products were subjected to a sensory panel test, both products were judged acceptable.     

An LC-MS method for analyzing total resveratrol in grape juice, cranberry juice, and in wine.

Resveratrol is an antioxidant found in grapes, grape products, and some other botanical sources with antiinflammatory and anticancer properties. In grapes and wine, it occurs both as free resveratrol and piceid, the 3beta-glucoside of resveratrol. Here we report a liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry method to analyze total resveratrol (including free resveratrol and resveratrol from piceid) in fruit products and wine. Samples were extracted using methanol, enzymatically hydrolyzed, and analyzed using reversed phase HPLC with positive ion atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) mass spectrometric detection. Following APCI, the abundance of protonated molecules was recorded using selected ion monitoring (SIM) of m/z 229. An external standard curve was used for quantitation, which showed a linear range of 0.52-2260 pmol of trans-resveratrol injected on-column with a correlation coefficient 0.9999. The coefficient of variance of the response factor over the same concentration range was determined to be 5.8%, and the intra-assay coefficient of variance was determined to be 4.2% (n = 7). The limit of quantitation, defined as signal-to-noise 10:1, was determined to be 0.31 pmol injected on-column. The extraction efficiency of the method was determined to be 92%. The stability of resveratrol under different conditions was also examined. For example, resveratrol was stable for up to 5 days at 4 degrees C in the dark but was not stable at room temperature without protection from light. Resveratrol was detected in grape, cranberry, and wine samples. Concentrations ranged from 1.56 to 1042 nmol/g in Concord grape products, and from 8.63 to 24.84 micromol/L in Italian red wine. The concentrations of resveratrol were silmilar in cranberry and grape juice at 1.07 and 1.56 nmol/g, respectively.