Continuity and Change: Amish Dairy Farming in Wisconsin Over The Past Decade

Changes in Amish dairy farming in Wisconsin over the past decade are seen in their growing numbers, the increased percentage of dairy farms that are Amish operated in the state, and the decreased share of the Amish population that is engaged in dairying. Use of technology in the Amish barn and fields represents both continuity and change. Among those Amish dairy farmers who utilize ten‐gallon milk cans to store and ship their milk, little change in use of modern technology has occurred, and their herds remain small. Among those Amish dairymen who have adopted bulk tanks for their milk, many have embraced a variety of additional technologies, including milking machines. These dairymen have increased their use of technology over the past decade, their herd sizes have increased, and they are more reliant upon milk sales for their income than Amish dairy farmers producing can milk. Keywords: agriculture, Amish, dairy farms, Wisconsin.     

全球重要农业文化遗产(GIAHS)保护与适应性管理(英文)

世界各地世代居住的农牧民,以多样化的自然资源为基础,通过因地制宜的生产实践活动,创造、形成并保持着许多独具特色的农业系统和景观。这些在本土知识和传统经验基础上所建立起来的农业文化遗产巧夺天工,充分反映了人类及其文化多样性和与自然环境之间深刻关系的演进历程。这些系统不仅维持并适应了具有全球重要意义的农业生物多样性,形成了丰富的本土知识体系,而且更为重要的是,还为人类持续提供了多样化的产品和服务,保障了食物安全和生计安全,提高了人们的生活质量。但是,许多这样的农业生产系统正面临着包括全球化在内的多种影响因素的威胁。2002年,联合国粮农组织发起了一个国际合作计划"全球重要农业文化遗产(GIAHS)保护与适应性管理"。这一全球性倡议旨在建立这些农业文化遗产及其有关的生物多样性、食物与生计安全、景观与文化的保护体系,并在世界范围内得到认可,实现动态保护和可持续管理。     

泾河流域生态系统服务消耗及变化认知分析：基于农户问卷调查和参与式社区评估

本文以黄土高原泾河流域上游固原市为例,采用农户问卷调查和参与式社区评估方法,研究农户对生态系统服务认知及消费,并对两种方法认知结果进行比较分析。研究发现,农户问卷调查方法农户认知到食物供给、净化空气、净化环境、水土保持、供给洁净水、减少自然灾害、提高收入、薪柴供给、景观愉悦、牧草供给和防风固沙11项生态系统服务,农户日常对生态系统服务的占有和消耗及生态系统服务对农户的重要性程度影响农户对生态系统服务的认知;参与式社区评估（PRA）方法农户可以充分进行信息交流与讨论,与农户问卷调查法相比对生物多样性服务有了认知。研究区生态系统服务发生很大变化,食物供给和薪柴供给服务明显减弱,收入增加;受生态系统服务变化及收入水平的影响,农户食物和能源消费存在明显时空差异,总体而言,农户食物消费总量下降,大部分农户薪柴消费数量减少,农户对蔬菜、肉类、煤炭、天然气等的消费量增加。     

What kind of intensification? Agricultural practice, soil fertility and socioeconomic differentiation in rural Burkina Faso

In rural Burkina Faso, intensification has been an uneven process that has resulted in social costs, particularly in the form of uneven distribution of assets and disparate environmental trade-offs. This study examines the effects of wealth status on agricultural practice and soil fertility, arguing that differences in the practices of wealthier and poorer farmers lead to differential social and environmental outcomes. Two concerns are highlighted. First is the role of poverty in environmental degradation. Much of the debate about the role of wealth and poverty in environmental outcomes in developing countries has pinpointed poverty as the main causal explanation. Using studies of agricultural practices and soil fertility from several villages in southwestern Burkina Faso, this paper will counter this dominant view by showing that wealthier farmers farm much larger areas, have fewer trees in their fields, and use higher levels of animal traction which, in turn, has led to lower levels of soil fertility. A second concern is that while poorer farmers may have agricultural practices that minimize environmental degradation, their exclusion from key institutions that provide access to resources has serious livelihood consequences and potentials for increasing socioeconomic differentiation. The agricultural practices of wealthier farmers, while not optimal environmentally, result in higher levels of household wealth. A paradox emerges that while poorer farmers are conserving environmental resources, they are doing so at the expense of economic development and well-being.     

Understanding the Past and Present and Predicting the Future: Farmers’ Use of Multiple Nutrient Best Management Practices in the Upper Midwest

Understanding what drives farmers’ voluntary adoption of nutrient and soil best management practices has important consequences for many environmental outcomes including water quality. We build on research revealing the need for simultaneous use of multiple nitrogen best management practices to achieve water quality improvement goals. Using social, economic and attitudinal variables we predict the use of multiple nitrogen best management practices at three time points: current use (2013), past use (before 2013), and likelihood of use on their largest field in the next three years. Our empirical analysis uses structural equation modeling with latent variables and 2014 farmer survey data from three Midwestern US states. Most farmers in our sample used at least one of the six best management practices. Our results reveal that farmers’ attitudes, use of information sources, and conservation program participation affect the number of nitrogen best management practices concurrently in use at multiple time points.     

History and necessity: the evolution of soil conservation technology in a Jamaican farming system

The soil conservation campaigns that have been a prominent feature of Jamaican agricultural policy since the 1950s are frequently presented as having failed to ameliorate the problem of soil erosion in hillside agriculture. A case study of a small farming community in the Blue Mountains explores the development of the soil conservation practices currently employed by farmers. The use of trash barriers in carrot farming is described and the origins of this technology and its subsequent adaptation are considered. The study concludes that extension interventions and government policy have influenced the development of current soil conservation practices; practices which have their roots in indigenous techniques. Other factors such as the adaptation of trash barriers to suit local conditions and their importance in soil fertility management also play a role in their widespread use in the study area. The study demonstrates that to understand the process of technical change in farming communities, it is necessary to consider a range of factors, external and internal, technical and social, that have over time influenced farmers' decision making.     

Groundwater governmentality: hegemony and technologies of resistance in Rajasthan's (India) groundwater governance

Globally, decentralisation has become the dominant paradigm for environmental governance. This paper explores the linkages between green governmentality approaches to subjectivity and Gramscian notions of hegemony to examine recent efforts in Rajasthan, India to decentralise groundwater governance through targeted formal regulations and outreach activities, such as water awareness campaigns ( Jal Abhiyaan ). The latter seeks to alter the beliefs and practices of farmers by institutionalising their support for state groundwater conservation efforts, including privatisation. The paper draws on household surveys and interviews with farmers and government agents to examine the relationship between the political economic motivations for and practices of state subject-making and differential resistance to these efforts based on farmers' multiple subject positions. Findings suggest, first, that the state is motivated through its monetary and advisory relationship with donor agencies, such as the World Bank. Through both outreach activities and coercion, it attempts to gain 'consent' for its proposals, which devolve state control rather than truly decentralising decision-making, to make self-conducting and willing subjects of specifically neoliberal groundwater conservation. But, second, these attempts are being resisted by some farmers through protests, informal discussions, non-participation, and the collectivisation of access to groundwater and irrigation through irrigation partnerships. Third, resistance to these efforts, or support for them, is different between farmers based on their multiple subjectivities (caste, class and ecological conditions). The paper advances both our understanding of the processes of environmental subject-making and of the devolution of environmental governance, by integrating the lessons from governmentality and Gramscian approaches to social power and subjectivity.     

Global warming,population growth,and natural resources for food production

Destruction of forests and the considerable burning of fossil fuels is directly causing the level of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases including methane, carbon monoxide, and nitrous oxide in the atmosphere to rise. Population growth in the US and the world indirectly contributes to this global warming. This has led the majority of scientists interested in weather and climate to predict that the planet's temperature will increase from 1.5 to 4.5 degrees Celsius by 2050. These forecasted climactic changes will most likely strongly affect crop production. Specifically these scientists expect the potential changes in temperature, moisture, carbon dioxide, and pests to decrease food production in North America. The degree of changes hinges on each crop and its environmental needs. If farmers begin using improved agricultural technology, the fall in crop yields can be somewhat counterbalanced. Even without global warming, however, agriculture in North America must embrace sensible ecological resource management practices such as conserving soil, water, energy, and biological resources. These sustainable agricultural practices would serve agriculture, farmers, the environment, and society. Agriculturalists, farmers, and society are already interested in sustainable agriculture. Still scientists must conduct more research on the multiple effects of potential global climate change on many different crops under various environmental conditions and on new technologies that farmers might use in agricultural production. We must cut down our consumption of fossil fuel, reduce deforestation, erase poverty, and protect our soil, water, and biological resources. The most important action we need to take, however, is to check population growth.     

Relational Agriculture: Gender,Sexuality, and Sustainability in U.S. Farming

Although 97% of U.S. farms are “family-owned,” little research examines how gender and sexual relationships – inherent in familial dynamics – influence farmers’ practices and livelihoods. Gender and sexual dynamics – shaped by race and class – affect who is considered a farmer, land management decisions, and access to resources like land, subsidies, and knowledge. We use feminist and queer lenses to illuminate how today’s agricultural gender and sexual relations are not “natural,” but when left uninterrogated are constructed in ways that harm women and queer farmers while limiting potential to develop sustainable practices. Women and queer farmers also resist, “re-orienting” gender and sexual relations in ways that expand possibilities for achieving food justice and ecological sustainability. We offer “relational agriculture” as a tool for making visible and re-orienting gender and sexual relations on farms. Relational agriculture brings sexuality into food justice and demonstrates the centrality of gender and sexuality to agricultural sustainability.     

Field Work in the Elementary School

Abstract

This research examines the effects of culture on a child's perceptions of his or her neighborhood by comparing the neighborhood sketch maps of a group of Amish and non-Amish children from the same rural Pennsylvania neighborhood. The results of this study lend credence to the belief that early and intensive acculturation helps define our sense of “neighborhood” very early in life. There are possible applications to multicultural education in this study. As we discover what is important to students from other subcultures and backgrounds, we can customize our instruction to make it more meaningful and effective.     

Assessing Conservation Adoption Decision Criteria Using the Analytic Hierarchy Process: Case Studies from Three Midwestern Watersheds

Land use changes from natural ecosystems to industrial agriculture have impacted water quality and wildlife populations in the Mississippi River basin. Government programs providing technical assistance and monetary incentives have not resulted in adequate adoption rates of conservation practices. While there has been a plethora of research examining the factors associated with conservation adoption, significantly less is understood about the relative importance of these factors. Using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) with agricultural producers in three Midwestern watersheds, we assess the relative importance of environmental and production decision criteria when making decisions to adopt conservation practices. Although AHP provides insight into how decisions may be made at the watershed scale, this methodology also provides insight into how individuals make conservation decisions and may also provide a method for delivering tailored conservation advice and communications.     

The Cap and Water Trading in Australian Murray-Darling Basin for Wetlands Protection:The Possible Lessons for China

As the consequence of climate change, water that is received in Australian Murray-Darling Basin wetlands is declining and agricultural water demands are increasing. In order to keep the water use balance between environment protection including wetland protection and irrigation water use, the Australian government adopted a series of reforms in Murray-Darling Basin to address the environmental water shortage problem and encourage irrigators to use water more efficiently and plant high economic value crop. The water trading and cap are two major reforms in this process.In order to match up the environmental water demand such as wetland water use, based on the seasonal rainfall, dam level and environmental water demand, the cap system seasonally allocate how much water the irrigators can access as per water licenses. As the cap dramatically reduced the water access for irrigators, the water trading is aiming to use limited agricultural water more efficiently. The water trading scheme separate the water use right from the land property right and allow Australian farmers to trade their water licenses in the market. Water trading encouraged farmers who plant low value crops such as wheat and canola transfer their water entitles to farmers who plant high value crops such as grape. In the drought seasons, The Australian government can purchase the water licenses from irrigators to increase the environmental flows.This Australian water management system represents the most complicated and effective environmental and agricultural water use management in this world. There are possible many lessons that will help China to better manage the water use for wetland protection and farming practices.     

Remnants of the Waikato: Native forest survival in a production landscape

Abstract: This paper addresses the issue of conservation of native biodiversity on privately owned farmland in New Zealand. Based on surveys of Waikato dairy farmers as exemplars of intensive agricultural practice, it examines factors that influence the survival of native forest on land with potential for commercial production. Results suggest that a significant proportion of Waikato dairy farmers regard native forest favourably, although the proportion of farmers who actively conserve their forest is small. Factors that assist the persistence of native forest on dairy farms include personal characteristics of the farmer, past accidents of history which have left forest remnants in place, and physical characteristics of the farm such as topography. While the conservation of native biodiversity within this intensively farmed landscape is strongly influenced by political economy pressures that encourage production, non‐utilitarian motives such as aesthetic enjoyment and family heritage can serve to counter the production ethic.     

Decisive key-factors influencing farm households' soil and water conservation investments

In the inter-Andean valleys of Bolivia decisive key-factors influencing farm households' soil and water conservation investments were determined. The household's progressiveness most influences the decision how much to invest; dynamic and responsible families are among the first. Economic stratum is also important; more income from agriculture leads to higher investments in conservation practices. These practices are preferably executed on fields where the required effort is least and where the impact is highest. Based on these results, four concrete recommendations are given for a SWC strategy that aims at motivating farmers for the adoption of soil and water conservation practices.     

Factors Affecting the Willingness of Farmers to Accept Eco-compensation in the Qianxi Chestnut Agroforestry System,Hebei

Ecological compensation plays an important role in promoting ecological protection. Identifying factors affecting the willingness of farmers to accept eco-compensation has become a focus of ecological economics. The Qianxi traditional chestnut agricultural heritage system is a typical agroforestry system in China and adapts the local environment well. However, local farmers concentrate on chestnut monocultures, driven by short-term profits. The local ecological environment is very fragile. We surveyed 100 local rural households. Based on face-to-face interviews and questionnaires and model assessment, we analyzed factors affecting the willingness of farmers to accept eco-compensation in the Qianxi chestnut agroforestry system of Hebei. We found that many factors influence farmer willingness to accept, including education level, household income, environmental awareness, environmental protection practices and knowledge of ecological compensation. This research provides helps clarify the mechanism of farmer participation in eco-compensation and provides a basis for further development of compensation standards that benefit the local environment.     

Financial efficiency of major soil and water conservation measures in West Usambara highlands, Tanzania

Soil and Water Conservation (SWC) measures are needed to control soil erosion and sustain agricultural production on steep slopes of West Usambara mountains. However, the adoption by farmers of the recommended soil and water conservation measures is low and soil erosion continues to be a problem. It could well be that the reason for the low adoption is that the costs to invest in soil and water conservation are higher than the eventual benefits. This research assessed the costs and benefits of bench terraces, grass strips and fanya juu, which are major SWC measures. Financial Cost Benefit Analysis (FCBA) was undertaken for farmers with low, moderate and high opportunity costs of labour at different slopes and soil types. The results show that labour is the major cost item in implementing SWC measures and is higher with bench terraces than with fanya juu and grass strips. The results also show that the costs of establishing the three SWC measures exceed the returns in the initial 2 years. However, in the long term, the three SWC measures are profitable to farmers with low to medium opportunity costs of labour on gentle to moderate slopes. It was also found that SWC measures are not financially attractive to most farmers with off-farm activities and other sources of income. It is concluded that high investment costs and initial negative returns are the major hindrances to the adoption of SWC measures by smallholder farmers in West Usambara mountains. Options to overcome the initial investment costs include the gradual investment in SWC measures, introduction of high value crops and small credit facilities. The promotion of dairy cattle under zero grazing system can also increase the adoption of SWC measures because of the high benefits from grasses used to stabilise SWC measures.     

Resource management and agriculture in the periurban interface of Kumasi,Ghana: Problems and prospects

This paper outlines pressures on agricultural land in periurban Kumasi, Ghana. A survey of agricultural practices underlines the recent and rapid transition from agricultural to urban land use in the periurban interface, and shows how farmers are reacting by reducing fallow periods. Farmers are also intensifying agriculture near streams and rivers through increased use of irrigation, in response to growing urban markets for a wider range of vegetables. We identify specific problems of water resource pollution and waste management, with particular reference to farmland irrigation. We report results of composting interventions as a community‐based waste management strategy. We consider integrated organic waste recycling as a generic strategy to help protect periurban natural resources, to enhance food production through nutrient recycling, and to improve community sanitation.     

Global cotton and local environmental management: the political ecology of rich and poor small-hold farmers in southern Mali

This study examines the hypothesis that poor households engage in less sustainable soil management practices than rich households in a similar socioeconomic environment. This broad objective is explored in Mali's southern cotton belt through three specific research questions. First, is there empirical evidence to support the claim that poor households engage in less sustainable soil management practices than rich households? Second, what local and extra-local factors influence household agricultural management approaches in southern Mali? Third, what broader scale political and economic processes are linked to the factors that influence local-level agricultural management approaches? The author reports that soil quality measures on the farms of rich and poor households are not significantly different, refuting the conventional wisdom that the wealthy are better managers of the environment. A variety of environmentally deleterious practices are associated with export-oriented cotton production, an activity more vigorously pursued by wealthy than poor farmers. Finally, the focus on poverty in international environment and development discourse has allowed the government of Mali to avoid a serious debate on the sustainability of cotton production. The study's findings are based on household interviews describing agricultural management practices, an analysis of farm field soil measures, and discussions with donors and national policymakers.     

Political Ecology and Cultural Change: Impacts on Swidden-fallow Agroforestry Practices among the Mopan Maya in Southern Belize

Little agroecological research examines indigenous agroforestry practices that appear to be unsustainable, and how such practices devolved from more environmentally sound land use strategies that have been documented by geographers and others. This paper discusses the political ecological factors that led the Mopan Maya to reject a diverse swidden-fallow management strategy for a system where an abandoned milpa provides few forest products. In doing so, this paper explains the process whereby cultural change, in this case rejection of certain agricultural traditions, leads to a less diverse agricultural landscape and ultimately a less diverse biological landscape.     

Institutions, the governance of quality and on-farm value retention for Indonesian specialty coffee

Fluctuating global commodity prices affect the livelihoods of millions of tropical farmers worldwide. In recent years, systemic oversupply of many tropical agricultural products, grown in countries such as Indonesia, has meant that agricultural incomes have continuously fallen below subsistence levels. Within an increasingly open global trade regime, along with the limited ability of governments to protect domestic farm prices, quality-informed product differentiation appears to offer an escape route from the trap of low commodity prices. However, ownership and governance of quality constructions are fundamental to determining who benefits from such differentiation. This paper examines the use of geographical identities as a specific tool for value-adding in agricultural produce, presenting the case of specialty coffee production in South Sulawesi, Indonesia. The potential for producer-driven geographical indications compete with corporate-driven quality constructions, where the latter are able to appropriate place-related quality associations by using trademarks, vertical integration and tightly coordinated supply chain controls. An emergent politic of quality governance and ownership in global commodity chains reveals the highly restricted institutional terrain within which growers of specialty coffee might attempt to retain a higher share of the economic rent associated with quality production.