Geostrategic Supply Risk and Economic Importance as Drivers for Implementation of Industrial Ecology Measures in a Nitrogen Fertilizer Production Company

Among other concerns, safeguarding the supply chains of raw materials is an important task for industrial companies. Therefore, not surprisingly, the number of scientific publications concerning the evaluation of resource criticality has increased in recent years. However, it was noticed that currently published methodologies are too complex to be applied by industrial companies on a daily basis. For this reason, the need to develop a methodology that would allow not only assessing resource criticality, but could also be integrated into widely applied methodological frameworks as an additional driver to improve resource efficiency was identified. Geostrategic supply risk and economic importance were chosen as key indicators to analyze and assess relative resource criticality. The developed methodology was field tested by applying it to a resource‐intensive nitrogen fertilizer production company. Five scenarios for resource efficiency improvements, consisting of cleaner production and industrial symbiosis measures, were investigated. If all the proposed measures were implemented, consumption of natural gas would decrease by 3.552 million cubic meters per year (0.3% of the total consumption). However, not all identified measures contribute to a reduction of the overall criticality of resources for the production company. Nevertheless, the integration of criticality assessments into the widely applied methodologies for development and implementation of resource efficiency innovations is a valuable addition and should be included in the analysis for sustainable innovations and development.     

Invited review: Helping dairy farmers to improve economic performance utilizing data-driving decision support tools

The objective of this review paper is to describe the development and application of a suite of more than 40 computerized dairy farm decision support tools contained at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW) Dairy Management website http://DairyMGT.info. These data-driven decision support tools are aimed to help dairy farmers improve their decision-making, environmental stewardship and economic performance. Dairy farm systems are highly dynamic in which changing market conditions and prices, evolving policies and environmental restrictions together with every time more variable climate conditions determine performance. Dairy farm systems are also highly integrated with heavily interrelated components such as the dairy herd, soils, crops, weather and management. Under these premises, it is critical to evaluate a dairy farm following a dynamic integrated system approach. For this approach, it is crucial to use meaningful data records, which are every time more available. These data records should be used within decision support tools for optimal decision-making and economic performance. Decision support tools in the UW-Dairy Management website (http://DairyMGT.info) had been developed using combination and adaptation of multiple methods together with empirical techniques always with the primary goal for these tools to be: (1) highly user-friendly, (2) using the latest software and computer technologies, (3) farm and user specific, (4) grounded on the best scientific information available, (5) remaining relevant throughout time and (6) providing fast, concrete and simple answers to complex farmers’ questions. DairyMGT.info is a translational innovative research website in various areas of dairy farm management that include nutrition, reproduction, calf and heifer management, replacement, price risk and environment. This paper discusses the development and application of 20 selected (http://DairyMGT.info) decision support tools.     

Use and non-use values as motivational construct dimensions for farm animal welfare: impacts on the economic outcome for the farm

This study explored how farmers’ motivation in terms of use values and/or non-use values to work with farm animal welfare are associated with the economic outcome for the farm. Use values in farm animal welfare refer to economic value derived from productivity and profitability considerations. Non-use values in farm animal welfare refer to economic value derived from good animal welfare, irrespective of the use the farmer derives from the animal, currently or in the future. The analysis was based on detailed information about the income statements of a sample of Swedish dairy farmers, obtained from the Swedish Farm Economic Survey, complemented with survey information about their perceived use and non-use values in farm animal welfare. The findings suggest that farm economic outcome is significantly associated with motivation in terms of use values, but not so much with motivation in terms of non-use values. This is interesting from a policy point of view, because it indicates that farmers with different approaches to farm animal welfare may experience different economic outcomes for their farms. Findings can, for instance, be used to strengthen farmers’ engagement in various private quality assurance standards, which generally focus on values of non-use type, by pointing to that realisation of such values will not impair the economic outcome of the farms. Moreover, findings also suggest that farmers’ economic incentives for engagement in such standards may need to be further strengthened in order to become more attractive, as findings point to that a focus on non-use values generally is not associated with more favourable economic outcomes.     

Review: Feed demand landscape and implications of food-not feed strategy for food security and climate change

The food-feed competition is one of the complex challenges, and so are the ongoing climate change, land degradation and water shortage for realizing sustainable food production systems. By 2050 the global demand for animal products is projected to increase by 60% to 70%, and developing countries will have a lion’s share in this increase. Currently, ~800 million tonnes of cereals (one-third of total cereal production) are used in animal feed and by 2050 it is projected to be over 1.1 billion tonnes. Most of the increase in feed demand will be in developing countries, which already face many food security challenges. Additional feed required for the projected increased demand of animal products, if met through food grains, will further exacerbate the food insecurity in these countries. Furthermore, globally, the production, processing and transport of feed account for 45% of the greenhouse gas emissions from the livestock sector. This paper presents approaches for addressing these challenges in quest for making livestock sector more sustainable. The use of novel human-inedible feed resources such as insect meals, leaf meals, protein isolates, single cell protein produced using waste streams, protein hydrolysates, spineless cactus, algae, co-products of the biofuel industry, food wastes among others, has enormous prospects. Efficient use of grasslands also offers possibilities for increasing carbon sequestration, land reclamation and livestock productivity. Opportunities also exist for decreasing feed wastages by simple and well proven practices such as use of appropriate troughs, increase in efficiency of harvesting crop residues and their conversion to complete feeds especially in the form of densified feed blocks or pellets, feeding as per the nutrient requirements, among others. Available evidence have been presented to substantiate arguments that: (a) for successful and sustained adoption of a feed technology, participation of the private sector and a sound business plan are required, (b) for sustainability of the livestock production systems, it is also important to consider the consumption of animal products and a case has been presented to assess future needs of animal source foods based on their requirements for healthy living, (c) for dairy animals, calculation of Emission Intensity based on the lifetime lactation rather than one lactation may also be considered and (d) for assessment of the efficiency of livestock production systems a holistic approach is required that takes into consideration social dimensions and net human-edible protein output from the system in addition to carbon and water footprints.     

Considering land–sea interactions and trade‐offs for food and biodiversity

With the human population expected to near 10 billion by 2050, and diets shifting towards greater per‐capita consumption of animal protein, meeting future food demands will place ever‐growing burdens on natural resources and those dependent on them. Solutions proposed to increase the sustainability of agriculture, aquaculture, and capture fisheries have typically approached development from single sector perspectives. Recent work highlights the importance of recognising links among food sectors, and the challenge cross‐sector dependencies create for sustainable food production. Yet without understanding the full suite of interactions between food systems on land and sea, development in one sector may result in unanticipated trade‐offs in another. We review the interactions between terrestrial and aquatic food systems. We show that most of the studied land–sea interactions fall into at least one of four categories: ecosystem connectivity, feed interdependencies, livelihood interactions, and climate feedback. Critically, these interactions modify nutrient flows, and the partitioning of natural resource use between land and sea, amid a backdrop of climate variability and change that reaches across all sectors. Addressing counter‐productive trade‐offs resulting from land‐sea links will require simultaneous improvements in food production and consumption efficiency, while creating more sustainable feed products for fish and livestock. Food security research and policy also needs to better integrate aquatic and terrestrial production to anticipate how cross‐sector interactions could transmit change across ecosystem and governance boundaries into the future.     

Gastropods alien to South Africa cause severe environmental harm in their global alien ranges across habitats

Alien gastropods have caused extensive harm to biodiversity and socioeconomic systems like agriculture and horticulture worldwide. For conservation and management purposes, information on impacts needs to be easily interpretable and comparable, and the factors that determine impacts understood. This study aimed to assess gastropods alien to South Africa to compare impact severity between species and understand how they vary between habitats and mechanisms. Furthermore, we explore the relationship between environmental and socioeconomic impacts, and both impact measures with life‐history traits. We used the Environmental Impact Classification for Alien Taxa (EICAT) and Socio‐Economic Impact Classification for Alien Taxa (SEICAT) to assess impacts of 34 gastropods alien to South Africa including evidence of impact from their entire alien range. We tested for correlations between environmental and socioeconomic impacts per species, and with fecundity and native latitude range using Kendall's tau tests. Kruskal–Wallis tests were used to compare impact magnitude among mechanisms and habitats, respectively. This study presents the first application of EICAT and SEICAT for invertebrates. There was no correlation between environmental impacts and socioeconomic impacts. Habitats did not differ regarding the severity of impacts recorded, but impacts via disease transmission were lower than other mechanisms. Neither fecundity nor native range latitude was correlated with impact magnitude. Despite gastropods being agricultural and horticultural pests globally, resilience of socioeconomic systems makes high impacts uncommon. Environmental systems may be vulnerable to gastropod impacts across habitats, having experienced multiple local extinctions of wetland island snail fauna. South Africa stands out as the only continental country that follows this trend. The knowledge gained on severity and nature of gastropod impacts is useful in risk assessment, which can aid conservation management. To make impact assessments more realistic, we suggest alternative ways of reporting impacts classified under EICAT and SEICAT.     

5种生物杀虫剂对4种天敌昆虫的安全性评价

【目的】生物杀虫剂及天敌昆虫的应用是绿色防控的发展方向,但有关生物杀虫剂对天敌昆虫的安全性尚不明确。研究生物杀虫剂对天敌昆虫的影响可以为更好地协调使用生物杀虫剂和天敌昆虫提供理论依据。【方法】在实验室条件下采用药膜法和滤纸膜片法测定了5种生物杀虫剂(苦参碱、桉油精、鱼藤酮、除虫菊素、橄榄鲨)在田间推荐使用浓度下,对4种天敌昆虫(丽蚜小蜂、东亚小花蝽、食蚜瘿蚊、巴氏新小绥螨)的致死率。【结果】除虫菊素对丽蚜小蜂、东亚小花蝽、巴氏新小绥螨的影响较大,致死率均达到100%;鱼藤酮对丽蚜小蜂、食蚜瘿蚊、巴氏新小绥螨的影响均较大,致死率在98.65%以上;橄榄鲨对丽蚜小蜂、东亚小花蝽、食蚜瘿蚊的影响较小,致死率均小于30%;苦参碱对丽蚜小蜂的影响最大,致死率达100%,对食蚜瘿蚊和巴氏新小绥螨的影响较小,致死率分别为15.56%和15.91%;桉油精对巴氏新小绥螨的影响最大,致死率达100%,对东亚小花蝽和食蚜瘿蚊的影响较小,致死率分别为15.91%和6.67%。【结论】这5种生物杀虫剂中,橄榄鲨对丽蚜小蜂、东亚小花蝽、食蚜瘿蚊安全,桉油精对东亚小花蝽、食蚜瘿蚊安全,苦参碱对食蚜瘿蚊、巴氏新小绥螨安全,鱼藤酮对东亚小花蝽安全,除虫菊素对食蚜瘿蚊安全。     

一个农户庭院经济的效益及其能流分析

一个农户庭院经济的效益及其能流分析方达福（湖北省阳新县农业环境保护站４３５２００）ＡｎａｌｙｓｉｓｏｆｔｈｅＥｃｏｎｏｍｉｃＢｅｎｅｆｉｔｓａｎｄＥｎｅｒｇｙＣｙｃｌｉｎｇｏｆｔｈｅＥｃｏｌｏｇｉｃａｌａｎｄＥｃｏｎｏｍｉｃＹａｒｄｉｎａＦａｒｍｅｒ...     

THE STUDY OF THE ECONOMIC THRESHOLD OF TOMICUS PINIPERDA (COLEOPTERA: SCOLYTIDEA) ON YUNNAN PINE

Abstract By careful and long period field investigation of the population density of Tomicus piniperda L. and the growth of Yunnan pine ( Pinus yunnanensis French.), and improved regression analysis, the economic threshold of Tomicus piniperda on Yunnan pine is determined: When the death rate of the trees is not more than 0.52%, the natural control factors can prevent the density of the bark beetle from increasing and no control measure is needed. When the death rate of the trees reaches 0.5%, the corresponding rate of shoots attacked is 0.61% and the mean of invading holes per tree 0.66, the cost for control is equal to the economic loss saved. So, considering both the economic justification and the prevention of the pest density from increasing, when the death rate of the trees is more than 0.5%, the corresponding rate of shoots attacked more than 0.61% and the mean of invading holes per tree more than 0.66, control measure should be taken. The paper also gives formulae for different Yunnan pine forest areas to calculate their own economic threshold according to their special situations.