传统农耕文化在黄土高原上的困境与机遇

The difficulties and opportunities for traditional agrarian culture on the Loess Plateau

农耕农业是在动物农业之后,现代化农业之前的一个农业生产阶段。黄土高原畜牧文化发生在先,农耕文化后起,两者长期并存,互有消长。数千年期间经过十一个阶段,八次嬗替,最后农耕文化随着耕地农业的稳定而定位于黄土高原。此后外部环境变化,耕地农业面临困境。支持农耕文化在黄土高原长期存在的依据相应改变。草地农业相对于农耕农业,具有保持土壤肥力,节约化肥、水热资源及增加收益多方面的内在优势,农耕文化向草地农业文化演替已成历史的必然,也是周祖时期的农业文化的历史回归。而这种文化的回归正是耕地农业系统向草地农业系统变革的必要条件。

Cultivating-agriculture was a stage of production between the nomadic agriculture and the modern agriculture. As far as Loess Plateau was concerned, nomadic culture emerged first then followed by agrarian culture. The two cultures co-existed for a long time and alternately took over the dominate position. Finally the agrarian culture settled down firmly on the Loess Plateau with the farming agriculture getting stabilized after undergoing 11 stages and 8 changes during thousands of years. But it had been in a difficult situation since its environment has changed, which affected the foundations favorable to the agrarian culture for such a long time. Grassland-agriculture had advantages in soil fertility maintaining, fertilizer saving, water and heat saving and profit promoting in comparison with cultivating-agriculture. Therefore, shifting from cultivating-agriculture to grassland-agriculture was an inevitable historical tendency, which may also be regarded as a revival of the agricultural culture in Zhou Tsu-time. It was this revival that provided a necessary condition for conversion of cultivating-agriculture to grassland agriculture.