Queer Farmland: Land Access Strategies for Small-Scale Agriculture

Farmers struggle to afford farmland because competing land uses raise prices higher than what farmers earn, especially in small-scale and sustainable agriculture. Farmers often depend on an intimate partner’s income or labor to access land, yet few studies investigate sexual relationships in farmland access. I interrogate how sexuality shapes land access for small-scale agriculture through participant observation and interviews with 25 queer farmers in New England. I find that queer farmers’ sexual identities and relationships influence where they farm, who they live and work with, how they afford the land, and how they learn to farm. I argue that finding land, labor, credit, and knowledge are intertwined, heteronormative processes of capital accumulation shaped by racism and sexism. Queer farmers’ experiences navigating heteronormativity suggest the relevance of sexuality to land conservation and food justice, limits of organizing land access through sexual relationships, and alternatives to the “family farm.”     

日本虎杖覆盖对连作的影响——日本西阿瓦陡坡土地农业系统传统耕作评价

禾本科物种(例如银草、芦苇)在日本传统的地膜覆盖农业中普遍使用,西阿瓦地区是全球重要的农业遗产系统(GIAHS)所在地。传统上,这里的农民使用银草覆盖农业土壤。但当地农民从长期的经验中了解到,日本虎杖覆盖更适合该地区茄科作物的种植。目前尚不清楚日本虎杖覆盖物为何对茄科作物的种植有益。在本项研究中,我们假设日本虎杖覆盖物可能会有效避免连续种植马铃薯的危害。因为过去每年都会种植两次本地马铃薯,因此,我们调查了日本虎杖覆盖对连续种植马铃薯以及番茄种植后对马铃薯产量的影响。在2018年进行的田间试验中,我们首先在连续马铃薯栽培的土壤和未耕种的土壤中比较了日本虎杖覆盖、银草覆盖和无草覆盖(对照)对马铃薯产量的影响,结果表明日本虎杖覆盖减少了马铃薯产量的降低程度。其次,我们比较了番茄种植后的土壤和未耕种的土壤中的虎杖覆盖和无草覆盖对马铃薯产量的影响,结果再次表明了日本虎杖覆盖减少了马铃薯生长和产量下降的程度。这些发现表明用日本虎杖覆盖有助于避免连续种植马铃薯的风险。     

日本环境保全型农业的综述:发展历史、挑战及新机遇（英文）

农业生态系统是世界上最大的人类管理的生态系统。环境保全型农业的发展对扭转世界上生物多样性巨大损失的局面意义重大。全球重要农业文化遗产(GIAHS)项目是由联合国粮农组织(FAO)发起的以保护和动态管理传统农业知识系统及其景观为目标的国际性项目。日本农林水产省(MAFF)1992年开始高度重视现代农业生产对环境的负面影响。能登半岛和佐渡市被认定为发达国家中最早的GIAHS试点地,这也显示了日本地方层面保护传统农业生态系统的决心。本文综述了日本环境保全型农业发展的历史过程,现状,面临的挑战和新的机遇。日本现有的环境保全型农业包括:减少化肥和农药用量的做法,重视保护生物多样性的农法,有机农业等等。本文重点介绍了北陆地区的环境保全型农业发展的情况,尤其是石川县能登地区和新泻县佐渡市的情况以及最新的案例分析。本文使用最新的政府报告等官方文件,统计数据和学术论文进行分析并初步探讨如何进一步发展和扩大环境保全型农业的政策建议。本文分析环境保全型农业推广的问题并介绍了环境保全型农产品的市场价格的研究成果。认为重视农民的利益,鼓励城市居民,科研人员以及私营企业等多方面的参与,以及地方政府支持环保产品拓宽销路是环境保全型农业能得到切实发展的关键所在。     

可持续饮食系统的尺度逻辑——基于中国、巴西、南非的案例

农业工业化和“去地化”的生产模式、不透明的流通过程以及膨胀的消费欲望致使饮食系统危机不断,其可持续性成为全球尺度的挑战。当前饮食系统的可持续性研究面临尺度问题,涉及从全球地方的目标转化,以及从地方到全球的经验反馈两个方面。首先,全球尺度的可持续目标宏大包容,但是对地方尺度的差异性缺乏关照。其次,部分西方国家的可持续实践垄断了经验表达,过于重视社区等微观尺度而忽略了其他尺度的潜在作用,引发“尺度陷阱”。本文深入剖析中国、巴西、南非的饮食系统内部各类参与者的可持续性建构,提出全球和地方可持续饮食系统互动的尺度逻辑：① 从全球到地方的目标转化需要兼顾地方差异。中国、巴西、南非各自生成优先的可持续目标,分别针对食品安全、食物原真性和食物浪费、结构性的食物匮乏等问题。这些目标之间充满张力和博弈,不能等同替代。② 从地方到全球的经验反馈需要打破西方经验赋予的微观尺度的优越性,转向跨尺度的实践。发展中国家的可持续实践路径的要义在于发挥饮食系统各类参与者的能动性,调动资源形成有效的跨尺度行动网络。③ 发展中国家的经验表明尺度本身是方法,而不是目的,每个具体的可持续目标与适切的尺度方法匹配。有必要研究建议挖掘多元、差异的可持续模式,更加有针对性地促进当地乃至全球饮食系统的可持续发展。     

Patterns of Irrigated Agricultural Land Conversion in a Western U.S. Watershed: Implications for Landscape-Level Water Management and Land-Use Planning

In irrigated agricultural landscapes, land-use conversion may have landscape-level social, hydrological, and ecological effects. We used geographic information systems (GIS) and interviews to analyze development effects on irrigation in the Henry's Fork Watershed, Idaho. Farmers developed irrigation there in the 19th century, and incidental recharge from canal seepage and flood irrigation raised groundwater levels and expanded wetlands. Cohesive culture in agricultural communities sustained irrigation systems until amenity-driven demographic shifts beginning in the 1970s led to development approved by local governments with land-use planning but no water-management authority. Although only 5% of irrigated land has been converted, development has fragmented irrigated landscapes and made canal-system operation more difficult, potentially reducing groundwater levels, wetland extent, and return flows critical to downstream irrigators and fish and wildlife. We discuss future scenarios, highlighting the need for increased communication among local and state governments regarding land use and water management in irrigated landscapes across the West.     

Organization‐Led Migration,Individual Choice,and Refugee Resettlement in The U.S.: Seeking Regularities

The role of organizations in migration has received less attention than warranted; individual choice has typically been emphasized. As an in‐depth illustration, we consider refugee resettlement in the United States, post–World War II, wherein intermediary organizations play(ed) a major role. Central to this system are voluntary agencies (VOLAGs) and community organizations, but secondary migration also is critical. Attention is given to all refugees between 2000 and 2010, and in greater detail to Somalis. The latter provides deeper understanding through state refugee coordinators and case studies of Columbus, Ohio, Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Lewiston, Maine. Aside from process, it is evident that the geography of the foreign‐born settlement has been altered. While refugee resettlement and subsequent migration is the example, we broaden that to argue that migration studies have neglected the derived nature of movement via intermediary organizations; directed migrations and/or similar interventions have played a significant, if not dominant, role in population redistribution; and organization‐led migration should be considered in terms of general aspects, not simply as discrete case studies.     

特朗普政府以来的美国中东欧政策：调整、目标与展望

自“17+1合作”机制创设以来,中东欧在中欧合作中扮演的角色越来越重要。中国作为一个中东欧地区的“晚到者”,不得不面临长期以来“美、欧、俄”三方地缘博弈的影响。尤其是特朗普上任以来,一方面继承了奥巴马政府末期的中东欧政策,另一方面在能源、地缘和军事方面强化了美国的政策部署。在能源方面,美国进一步强化了将能源外交作为权力资源,平衡美欧俄关系的外交杠杆的作用。在地缘方面,波兰作为该地区的政策支轴国更加受到美国倚重。在军事方面,特朗普政府增强了在中东欧地区的军事存在和军费开支,推进驻欧美军基地的战略东移。通过对美国官方文本的文献考察发现,特朗普政府加强以上三个方面的政策部署,旨在实现以下三个政策目标：制衡俄罗斯、对欧盟分而治之和排挤中国。展望拜登政府,安全与能源仍是美国中东欧政策的首要关切。     

“Software,Jobs Go Begging,Threatening Technology Boom”: Computer Services Employment in U.S. Metropolitan Areas, 1982 and 1993

The campaign to promote the networking of America underscores the importance of information infrastructures that can support regional competitiveness. One crucial element of a regional information infrastructure is a computer services (CS) industry that supports computer systems, provides backward and forward linkages among all sectors of the economy, serves as engines for economic growth, enhances production efficiency, and encourages innovation. But research on metropolitan CS has been limited, and where CS are analyzed directly, spatial units of analysis vary and CS are rarely disaggregated. This paper situates CS employment within spatial analyses of producer services, outlines infrastructural characteristics, analyzes CS distribution across metropolitan areas in 1982 and 1993, and considers the implications of the findings. The data suggest that while large metropolitan areas are most likely to have a diverse base of specializations in multiple CS types, many smaller metropolitan areas possess CS specializations. We conclude that ranking in the urban CS hierarchy is more likely to be a function of local economic structure than metropolitan population. The uneven dispersion of CS capacity across metropolitan areas potentially has negative ramifications for implementation of national policy and development of underserved regional economies.