8 pages, In the face of rapidly advancing climate change, biodiversity loss, and water scarcity, it is clear that global agriculture must swiftly and decisively shift toward sustainability. Fortunately, farmers and researchers have developed a thoroughly studied pathway to this transition: agroecological farming systems that mimic natural ecosystems, creating tightly coupled cycles of energy, water, and nutrients. A critical and underappreciated feature of agroecological systems is that they replace fossil fuel- and chemical -intensive management with knowledge-intensive management. Hence, the greatest sustainability challenge for agriculture may well be that of replacing non-renewable resources with ecologically-skilled people, and doing so in ways that create and support desirable rural livelihoods. Yet over the past century, US agriculture has been trending in the opposite direction, rapidly replacing knowledgeable people with non-renewable resources and eroding rural economies in the process. Below, we suggest how US policy could pivot to enable and support the ecologically skilled workforce needed to achieve food security in the face of climate change.
27 pages, Vietnam plays an important role in bearing global food security. However, Vietnamese rice farmers face several challenges, including pressures to develop sustainable livelihoods while reducing the environmental impacts of their production activities. Various Vietnamese agricultural restructuring policies were promulgated to promote the adoption of environmentally friendly practices to generate high value added for rice farmers, but the farmers are reluctant to adopt them because of perceived lack of demand. Decreasing consumption of rice in Asia and increasing demands in Europe shaped Vietnamese rice exporting policies. New trade agreements, such as the UK–Vietnam Free Trade Agreement, offer new target markets for Vietnamese rice farmers. This research provides empirical evidence related to the preferences of UK consumers for ethical attributes for floating rice imported from Vietnam. Floating rice represents a traditional method of rice cultivation that relies on the natural flooding cycle. Its cultivation uses very few agrochemical inputs and provides several other environmental, economic, and social benefits. In an online survey, the study used a choice experiment that asked 306 UK consumers to report their preferences for one kilo of floating rice with three non-market attributes: reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, allocation of profits to the farmers, and restitution of biodiversity. Overall, study participants favored the attributes of floating rice, but reported utility for only the “fair trade” attribute and for a marginal willingness to pay premiums for profit allocations to farmers. Consumers did not find value in either CO2 emission reduction or biodiversity improvement. Results from the study provide recommendations to develop agricultural programs, distribution strategies, and informational methods to encourage floating rice consumption in the UK.
Fiore, Mariantonietta (author), Silvestri, Raffaele (author), Contò, Francesco (author), Pellegrini, Giustina (author), and Department of Economics, University of Foggia, Largo Papa Giovanni Paolo II, 1, Foggia, Italy
Department of Economic Science, University of Bari, Largo Abbazia Santa Scolastica 53, Bari, Italy
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
2017-01-20
Published:
Italy: Elsevier Ltd.
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 162 Document Number: D08100
Giacchè, Giulia (author) and Silva, Wânia Rezende (author)
Format:
Proceedings
Publication Date:
2016
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Document Number: D08819
Notes:
Pages 431-452 in Rob Roggema (ed.), Agriculture in an urbanizing society volume one: proceedings of the sixth AESOP conference on sustainable food planning. United Kingdom: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 549 pages.
12 pages, Current food systems fail to directly link urban consumers with rural producers. City-regional strategies need to reconnect consumers with producers through sustainable local food systems. This research developed and distributed a survey questionnaire to 400 consumers in Bangkok. Findings prove that there is a statistically significant association between urban-rural relation and sustainable urban consumer behavior (Pearson’s Chi-square test for independence resulting in a significance level of p < 0.05). Sustainable consumer behavior is influenced by environmental, sociocultural, economic and health drivers, while lack of food traceability, lack of rural experience, lack of access to rural communities and negative social perception disrupt consumer-producer links. Community-based gastrotourism emerges as one of the best practices to link urban consumers with rural producers and plan sustainable food systems in mega-cities like Bangkok.
15 pages, Integrating renewable energy (RE) technologies into agriculture can contribute to attaining sustainable production. Farmers’ adoption of RE in agriculture can lead to substantial reductions in Greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions as well as providing alternative income sources for farmers, and reliable energy supplies for farms and households. Policies can facilitate, support, or encourage farmers’ adoption of RE. However, it is not clear what policies currently exist which facilitate or promote the adoption of RE technologies in Ghanaian agriculture. This paper aims to identify policies in Ghana that can facilitate the adoption of RE in agricultural production. A policy review was conducted to identify such policies, evaluate their potential impact on RE adoption, and suggest paths to enhance RE adoption by farmers. These policies are focused on two aspects: 1) promoting solar energy and 2) the conversion of agricultural waste to energy. Noting limitations including the underdevelopment of the RE sector and the lack of a central policy to promote RE utilization in Ghanaian agriculture, the review suggests that policymakers need to fully implement provisions of the Renewable Energy Act-(832) (2011) through the application of, for example, policy levers such as subsidies, tax exemptions, financing, and training potential end-users in the agricultural community.
10 pages., via online journal, Research into farmers’ attitudes and motivations in the past has tended to be subjective and theoretically rather imprecise. This paper presents findings from research based on the structured social-psychology model, the Theory of Planned Behaviour, into farmers’ conservation-related behaviour. Responses from a survey of 100 Bedfordshire farmers were analysed to identify the underlying determinants of behaviour and to comprehend farmers’ attitudes. Farmers with greater environmental awareness, members of the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group, are more influenced by conservation-related concerns and less by farm management concerns than other farmers. They appear also to be more influenced by farming and conservation referent groups, grants and conservation advice.
