Problems and Development Countermeasures of Agricultural Water-Saving Irrigation

Agriculture is the biggest water user in China,and the development of agricultural water-saving has great significance to the national economy and social development. In this paper,the present situation of water used in agriculture irrigation and water-saving potential were analyzed,and the ＂ bottleneck＂ and main problems existing in water-saving irrigation in China were discussed. From the aspects of engineering investment channels,agricultural water-saving policies and management system,reform of agricultural water price and water right transfer,improvement of farmers＇ water-saving consciousness,and promotion of rural land transfer,suggestions were proposed for the development of China＇s agricultural water-saving in future,which will provide a technical support for the sustainable use of agricultural water resources in China.

The Potential Contribution of Subsurface Drip Irrigation to Water-Saving Agriculture in the Western USA

Water shortages within the western USA are resulting in the adoption of water-saving agricultural practices within this region. Among the many possible methods for saving water in agriculture, the adoption of subsurface drip irrigation （SDI） provides a potential solution to the problem of low water use efficiency. Other advantages of SDI include reduced NO3 leaching compared to surface irrigation, higher yields, a dry soil surface for improved weed control, better crop health, and harvest flexibility for many specialty crops. The use of SDI also allows the virtual elimination of crop water stress, the ability to apply water and nutrients to the most active part of the root zone, protection of drip lines from damage due to cultivation and tillage, and the ability to irrigate with wastewater while preventing human contact. Yet, SDI is used only on a minority of cropland in the arid western USA. Reasons for the limited adoption of SDI include the high initial capital investment required, the need for intensive management, and the urbanization that is rapidly consuming farmland in parts of the western USA. The contributions of SDI to increasing yield, quality, and water use efficiency have been demonstrated. The two major barriers to SDI sustainability in arid regions are economics （i.e., paying for the SDI system）, including the high cost of installation; and salt accumulation, which requires periodic leaching, specialized tillage methods, or transplanting of seedlings rather than direct-seeding. We will review advances in irrigation management with SDI.

Agriculture and Soil Management in the Context of Sustainable Development in the Sudano-Sahelian Zone of Cameroon

The Sudanian-Sahelian zone of the Far-North Cameroon faces an extreme climate challenge resulting in increased vulnerability to erosion, soil degradation, and the effects of climate change, impacting soil fertility and agricultural yields. The objective of this study was to analyze agricultural practices, challenges related to climate change and soil degradation, as well as the solutions adopted by farmers to address these issues. To achieve this, 600 farmers from the six departments of the region were interviewed. The results highlight the significant impact of climatic conditions on soil health, agricultural activities, and food security. Farmers identified various indicators of soil degradation, including agricultural yields, bioindicator plants, plant growth, soil fauna, and root density. The main causes of soil degradation are associated with practices such as deforestation, intensive agriculture, the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, overgrazing, and the effects of climate change. The impacts of this degradation are multiple, including soil fertility loss, reduced agricultural yields, deforestation, reduced biodiversity, income loss, water resource pollution, and food insecurity. In response to these challenges, farmers have adopted sustainable soil management practices, including crop rotation, intercropping, fallowing, the use of organic fertilizers, and the adoption of conservation agriculture. To effectively address these challenges, concerted collaboration between farmers, civil society organizations, and government authorities is imperative to develop sustainable and effective solutions against soil degradation in the region.

Boundary Shift of Potential Suitable Agricultural Area in Farming-grazing Transitional Zone in Northeastern China under Background of Climate Change During 20th Century

Climate change affected the agricultural expansion and the formation of farming-grazing transitional patterns during historical periods.This study analyzed the possible range of the boundary shift of the potential suitable agriculture area in the farming-grazing transitional zone in the northeastern China during the 20th century.Based on modern weather data,1 km-resolution land cover data,historical climatic time series,and estimation by using similar historical climatic scenes,the following was concluded:1)The climate conditions of suitable agriculture areas in the farming-grazing transitional zone in the northeastern China between 1971 and 2000 required an average annual temperature above 1℃or≥0℃accumulated temperature above 2500℃–2700℃,and annual precipitation above 350 mm.2)The northern boundary of the potential suitable agriculture area during the relatively warmer period of 1890–1910was approximately located at the position of the 1961–2000 area.The northern boundary shifted back to the south by 75 km on average during the colder period of the earlier 20th century,whereas during the modern warm period of the 1990s,the area shifted north by 100km on average.3)The western and eastern boundaries of the suitable agriculture area during the heaviest drought periods between1920s and 1930s had shifted northeast by 250 km and 125 km,respectively,contrasting to the boundaries of 1951–2008.For the wettest period,that is,the 1890s to the 1910s,the shift of western and eastern boundaries was to the southwest by 125 km and 200 km,respectively,compared with that in the 1951–2008 period.This study serves as a reference for identifying a climatically sensitive area and planning future land use and agricultural production in the study area.

RESEARCH & PRACTICE OF WATER-SAVING AGRICULTURE

China is one of the world’s major agricultural countries. About 80% of its annual water consumption is used for fanning undertakings. On the other hand, China is a country deficient in water resources and in particular, the water shortage is embarrassingly serious in the north. So the current development of water-saving agriculture (WSA) is a way of easing the strain between the supply and demand of water. This article expounds the WSA’s status in the development of the national economy, its research and implementation, and suggests an institutional system of WSA to be established in this country.

FLUCTUATION OF AGROCLIMATIC ZONES AND ITS IMPACT ON AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION IN CHINA

Accumulated temperature above 100℃ (Σ t) and minimum annual temperature (Tm) are the major indexes for demarcating agroclimatic thermal zones. The paper calculated the return period (τ) of Σ t and Tm, and the shift ofΣ t-and Tm-isopleths with T. The results show: (1) According to the magnitude of shift of Σ t-and Tm-isopleths, in Northeast China, Inner Mongolia and northern Xinjiang the fluctuation of thermal resources in growing season from year to year is the greatest and strongly impacts the yield of annual thermophilous crops, but in the Changjiang River basin the fluctuation of the low temperature in winter is the greatest and seriously injures the perennial subtropical tree crops. ( 2) In the anomalous cool summer year with t = 30, the northern boundaries of the southern subtropical, northern subtropical and warm temperate zones and the southern boundary of the frigid temperate zone in China could be expected to shift southward 150, 220, 250 and 300 km from their normal positions,

Evaluation on Emergency Ability of Agricultural Envrironmental Pollution Incident in Central Plains Economic Zone

Abstract The level of emergency ability directly reflects response effect of an area to emergency. Taking Central Plains Economic Zone as re- search object, by documents retrieval, field survey, mechanism analysis and logical reasoning, evaluation index system for emergency ability of ag- ricultural environmental pollution incident was established, which included 5 first grade indexes, 19 second grade indexes and 53 third grade inde- xes. By mechanism analysis and mathematical derivation, evaluation model for emergency ability of agricultural environmental pollution incident： I =m∑i=1∑j=1Pij, On this basis, four prefecture-level cities （A, B, C and D） of Central Plains Economic Zone were evaluated by using the index system and the evaluated model. The research could provide important theoretical reference for emergency ability construction of agricultural environmental pol- lution incident in Central Plains Economic Zone.

A Study of the Industrial Development in Huazhong Agricultural High-tech Industrial Development Zone

This paper illustrates the current situation and problems concerning the industrial structure in Huazhong Agricultural High-tech Industrial Development Zone,and analyzes the internal contradictions that exist in industry: small-scale land operation has become an inherent obstacle to the industrial development in Agricultural High-tech Zone; farmers are always in a passive position in industrial restructuring optimization; government's policy failures and rent-seeking behaviors have hindered industrial development; the research,popularization and application of agricultural science and technology is not suited to industrial development requirements. Finally,this paper makes the corresponding recommendations for industrial development in Huazhong Agricultural High-tech Industrial Development Zone.

Agricultural Ecological Zoning Plan of Old Industrial Bases in Liaoning Province, China

On the basis of brief description of current situation of old industrial bases and primary industry of Liaoning Province, the paper introduces the general situation of agriculture-ecological zoning plan in Liaoning Province. First, the ecological bases of agricultural zoning plan are introduced through various topographic and geomorphic types, regional climate differences and imbalanced distribution of natural resources; Second, in accordance with the theory of comparative advantage, distribution of production and resource economics, on the basis of comprehensive evaluation of agricultural natural resources, with the principle of fully excavating economic function of different natural resources, and in order to improve allocation efficiency of the two resources of market and government, the formation of ecological zoning plan of agriculture in Liaoning Province is analyzed; Third, according to Regional Layout Planning of Characteristic Agricultural Products of Liaoning Province (2006-2010), the paper describes basic layout of agriculture-ecological zoning plan in Liaoning Province. The policy support of agriculture-ecological zoning plan in Liaoning Province is analyzed from three aspects-support policy of functional zone major in producing grain, support policy of other characteristic agriculture-ecological zone and support measures of development of agriculture-ecological zone. The paper also analyzes experiences of agricultural development of old industrial bases in ecological zoning plan: First, agriculture-ecological zoning plan is a effective way of the revitalization of old industrial bases; Second, scientificity of plan is the basis of improving competitiveness of regional agriculture; Third, multi-input mechanism guiding by government is the key of agricultural packing effect; Fourth, integrated agricultural industrial chain is guarantee of realizing industrialization in ecological zone.

A Review on Water-Saving Agriculture in Europe

This paper aims to analyze the research on the current situation of water-saving agriculture development in Europe. Water-saving agriculture in Europe started early, governments and farmers in various countries have a strong awareness of water-saving in agriculture and have achieved certain results. Due to the global spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, the lack of up-to-date field research, the complexity of various agricultural disciplines and categories, and the lack of information sharing, the current cognition of recent progress in the development of water-saving agriculture in Europe is not comprehensive enough. This paper selects four representative European countries: Spain, Germany, Italy, and Denmark as the research objects. Based on the existing research of Chinese and Western scholars, this paper analyzes and studies the current situation of water-saving agriculture in Europe. It has far-reaching significance for other countries in the world to have further development in water-saving agriculture and to protect water resources.

Export-orientation Agricultural Comprehensive Development Zones

The following eight export-orienta-tion agricultural comprehensive de-velopment zones were approved tobe set up in October 1995: (1) Nantong Export-orientation Agri-cultural Comprehensive Development zoneis situated in the Rudong Coastal Reclama-tion Area with a planned area of 6,667 hec-tares. On the land high-yield cereals,

Spatial-Temporal Evolution Characteristics and Driving Factors of Agricultural Space in Jianghan Plain from the Perspective of “Three-Zone Space”

Studying the agricultural spatial distribution characteristics of Jianghan Plain from 2000 to 2018 and its spatial-temporal transformation with ecological space and urban space is of great significance for optimizing the spatial structure of the country, enhancing the supply capacity of agricultural products, and ensuring food security. The research results show that during the period from 2000 to 2018, the agricultural spatial concentration in the area along the “Xiaogan-Jingzhou” link was relatively high, and the areas with large declines were mainly distributed in the flat areas between the Yangtze River and Han River;the space is continuously reduced by the occupation of ecological space and urban space, and ecological space and urban space have been improved respectively;agricultural space has been transformed into ecological space, and the largest urban space has been transformed. Ecological space has been transformed into agricultural space and urban space. Less urban space has been transformed into agricultural space and ecological space.

Delineation and Scale Effect of Precision Agriculture Management Zones Using Yield Monitor Data Over Four Years

In this study, precision agriculture management zones were delineated using yield data over four years from the combine harvester equipped with yield monitor and DGPS receiver. Relative yields measured during each year were interpolated to 4 m2 grid size using ordinary kriging. The resultant interpolated yield maps were averaged across years to create a map of the mean relative yield, which was then used for cluster analysis. The mean yield map of post-classification was processed by applying majority filtering with window sizes that were equivalent to the grid sizes of 12, 20, 28, 36, 44, 52 and 60 m. The scale effect of management zones was evaluated using relative variance reduction, test of significant differences of the means of yield zones, spatial fragmentation, and spatial agreement. The results showed that the post-classification majority filtering （PCMF） eliminated lots of isolated cells or patches caused by random variation while preserving yield means, high variance reduction, general yield patterns, and high spatial agreement. The zoned result can be used as yield goal map for preplant or in-season fertilizer recommendation in precision agriculture.

Analysis on the Water-saving Irrigation Technique Based on the Perspective of Food Safety

The paper analyzed the important role of water saving in protecting the food safety,introduced the present development of agricultural water-saving technique,pointed out the potential risks of water resources,and proposed the future development of water-saving irrigation.

Spatial Distribution and Changes of Heavy Metals of Agricultural Lands in Typical Pregrading Coast in Dongtai City,Jiangsu Province,China

According to the historical changes of coastal lines, seven soil sampling districts, from land to sea, were arranged in Dongtai City, Jiangsu Province to sample soils from surface and profile. Concentrations of seven major heavy metals (HMs), granularity, pH, organic matters and C/N of the soil samples were analyzed. Results show that concentrations of heavy metals in agricultural land present a certain spatial variance, decreasing from land to sea. Pollution assessment indicates that the agricultural soils were not polluted by HMs, but the potential pollution of Cu and Hg needs to be alerted. Different HMs accumulate in the surface and sub-surface of the soil profiles, and concentrations of Hg and Pb decrease significantly with the increment of soil depth. Concentrations of HMs exhibit a significantly negative correlation to pH, but have no significant relation with organic matters in soil. Principle component analysis show that the concentrations of HMs relate to the land use history. Concentrations of Hg, Ni and Cr in soil are closely related with land use history, and concentrations of Pb, Cu and Cr are affected by land use history as well as other factors. However, there is no significant relation between concentration of As and land use history.

Relation between some variations of soil and surface vegetation and desertization in agriculture-pasture interlacing zone——An example from Kangbao County, North Hebei, China

The studied agriculture\|pasture interlacing zone has its specific natural conditions, at which the natural systems are unstable, their self\|regulation capability is low and the equilibrium is easily broken, and hence the habitat is fairly vulnerable. During last 20 years the increasing population and livestock, over\|reclamation, over\|pasturing, over\|deforesting, and other intensified negative human activities in the zone resulted in coarsening of surface soil, decrease of organic mater content in soil, reduction of vegetation coverage, variation and degradation of flora structure, and hence in desertization of the land, although average of gales and sandstorms some decreased and the climate tended to be better in the region. However, the frequent sandstorms occurring in the springs of last and present years has attracted much attention. Investigations confirmed that the main cause for the phenomena is the unreasonable human activities rather than the natural factors.

National Protection Zone for Rapeseed Production and Industrial Cluster of Rape in Hubei Province

Hubei Province is the main winter rapeseed producing area in China,and has the national advantage and characteristic industrial cluster of rape.The protection zone for the production of important agricultural products of rapeseed in Hubei Province also ranks first as that in Hunan Province.This paper studied the winter rape industry,the important agricultural product production protection zone of rapeseed,the provincial double-low high-quality rape protection zone and the industrial cluster of rape in Jianghan Plain in Hubei Province,and analyzed the main problems existing in the development of rapeseed production protection zone and industrial cluster of rape.Finally,it came up with strategies including promoting national rape varieties,overcoming the problem of rape"agricultural chip",promoting the"rice+rape"rotation model,and strengthening the protection of intellectual property rights of brand marks.

Critical Soil Phosphorus Values for Yield Reduction in Intensive Agricultural Systems

Phosphorus(P)is an essential element for agricultural production.Over-fertilization during decades caused an accumulation of P in soils leading to eutrophication in regions characterized by intensive agriculture.These environmental concerns together with the non-renewability of P resources have led to a more sustainable P use.Knowledge about the P need of crops is essential for a sustainable agriculture thereby minimizing P losses to the environment without lowering the yield substantially.Therefore,in this study,critical soil P values for yield reduction(PCrit)were determined based on fertilizer trials conducted between 1970 and 1988 and more recent fertilizer trials(2016-2017).At rotational level a common PCrit value of 109 mg P/kg dry soil(in an ammonium lactate and acetate extract)was determined.Crop specific PCrit values were also determined for seven crops(potato,winter wheat,barley,rye,maize,sugar beet and temporary grassland).These critical values ranged from 59 mg P/kg dry soil to 164 mg P/kg dry soil with winter wheat the least and maize the most sensitive towards P deficiency.The diversity in PCrit values among crops can mainly be explained by the root intensity but also rooting depth,exudation of organic acids and phosphatases may influence the PCrit value.The soil pH also influenced the P availability significantly.Soils with a favorable pH had a significantly higher availability(i.e.,lower PCrit value)for all crops compared to soils with a suboptimal pH.Critical soil P values might help to set up new or to evaluate current soil P in target zones used for P fertilizer recommendations.

Research on Urban Agricultural Scientific Development Path of the Construction of Central Economic Region

The significance of developing characteristic agriculture in Central Economic Zone was elaborated from four aspects of three modernizations coordinated development,guaranteeing city supply of agricultural products,creating more jobs for farmers,making agriculture more significant. The existing problems in urban agriculture development were analyzed,such as understanding deviation,extensive development,market confusion,short industrial chain,low degree of specialization,harsh environment. Several corresponding countermeasures were put forward,including giving full play to the role of government's macro-control; perfecting compensation mechanism of urban agriculture,developing characteristic agriculture,promoting deep processing of agricultural products; advancing scientific innovation,improving production efficiency;operating sustainable ecological agricultural development road; relying on traffic advantage,promoting industrialization operation and urban agricultural logistics development.

Investigation on the Regional Branding Mode of Modern Agriculture in Guanzhong-Tianshui Economic Zone——From the Perspective of Country-of-origin Image

The theory of the country-of-origin image is discussed and the natural relations between county-of-origin image and the regional brand are explored.The paper points out that the dispersion of agriculture has intensified the natural relations to a large extent.The paper probes into the branding status of agriculture in Guanzhong-Tianshui economic zone and points out the problems of it.In the first place,the agricultural industrial system is complete but there is no unified agricultural regional brand;in the second place,the weak awareness on protecting brand leads to the irrational behaviors on damaging brand.From the perspective of the image of the country of origin,the branding mode of agriculture is established and the countermeasures on improving the competitiveness of agricultural products are put forward.Firstly,the leading role of the government should be fully displayed;secondly,the image protection of original production place and regional brand promotion of the agricultural region should be intensified;thirdly,the functions of local pillar industries in protecting image and regional branding should be fully made use of.