Technological Progress In Agriculture Research Articles

Classification of determinant factors of irrigated vegetable problems using exploratory factor analysis in Swaida governorate, Syria

The objective of this research was to classify the determinant factors of irrigated vegetable problems and the amount of variance that is explained by each factor in Swaida Governorate/ Syria by using the Exploratory Factor Analysis. The research is based on the data which were collected through questionnaires that were obtained according to the opinions of farmers. It included questions about some of the social and economic characteristics of farmers, and the concerning problems related to irrigated agriculture by using multiple-choice questions (on a 3-point scale) during the 2019-2020 Based on a sample size of 92 farmers, representing 54.9 % of the studied statistical community, and distributed randomly within the areas of spread of irrigated vegetable cultivation.. The results showed the success of using the exploratory factor analysis technique, using the Principal components methodology and Varimax in classifying six factors with an initial eigenvalues greater than one for each, and these factors are: agricultural technological progress, agricultural employment, sale outlets, natural conditions, prices, production requirements. These factors explained (13.21 %, 12.65 %, 12.55 %, 11.12 %, 10.94 %, and 9.85 %) of the total variance respectively, and together explained 70.33 %.

How Does Sustainable Rural Tourism Cause Rural Community Development?

Rural tourism has been developing vigorously, and rural community functions are becoming diversified in China. Therefore, this paper takes China as an example to explore how sustainable rural tourism affects rural community development in the long and short run over the period 1994–2020. Sustainable rural tourism can be measured using two indicators: total rural tourism revenue and number of rural tourists. Rural community development is measured by the number of rural community service institutions. Then, by incorporating other variables and using the autoregressive distributed lag bounds co-integration technique to perform an empirical analysis, we found that, whether in the long or short run, sustainable rural tourism always plays a positive and significant role in promoting rural community development. In particular, in the long run, rural infrastructure construction, rural ecological environment, agricultural fiscal expenditure, agricultural technological progress, and rural human capital are identified as the major forces behind rural community development. Meanwhile, in the short run, rural infrastructure construction, rural ecological environment, agricultural fiscal expenditure, agricultural technological progress, and rural human capital are also major drivers of rural community development. This paper contributes to the current literature by filling in the existing gaps in several aspects.

Spatiotemporal Variation of Vegetation Productivity and Its Feedback to Climate Change in Northeast China over the Last 30 Years

Gross primary productivity (GPP) represents total vegetation productivity and is crucial in regional or global carbon balance. The Northeast China (NEC), abundant in vegetation resources, has a relatively large vegetation productivity; however, under obvious climate change (especially warming), whether and how will the vegetation productivity and ecosystem function of this region changed in a long time period needs to be revealed. With the help of GPP products provided by the Global LAnd Surface Satellite (GLASS) program, this paper gives an overview of the regional feedback of vegetation productivity to the changing climate (including temperature, precipitation, and solar radiation) across the NEC from 1982 to 2015. Analyzing results show a slight positive response of vegetation productivities to warming across the NEC with an overall increasing trend of GPPGS (accumulated GPP within the growing season of each year) at 4.95 g C/m2. yr−2 over the last three decades. More specifically, the growth of crops, rather than forests, contributes more to the total increasing productivity, which is mainly induced by the agricultural technological progress as well as warming. As for GPP in forested area in the NEC, the slight increment of GPPGS in northern, high-latitude forested region of the NEC was caused by warming, while non-significant variation of GPPGS was found in southern, low-latitude forested region. In addition, an obvious greening trend, as reported in other regions, was also found in the NEC, but GPPGS of forests in southern NEC did not have significant variations, which indicated that vegetation productivity is not bound to increase simultaneously with greening, except for these high-latitude forested areas in the NEC. The regional feedback of vegetation productivity to climate change in the NEC can be an indicator for vegetations growing in higher latitudes in the future under continued climate change.

Exploring the relationship between agricultural technological progress, economic development and carbon emissions based on province data from the western region

As the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, China is currently facing severe pressure to reduce emissions. As a large agricultural country, its agricultural carbon emissions accounted for 17% of total carbon emissions in recent years, which is much higher than the international average. It is urgent to control agricultural carbon emissions. At the same time, the development of agriculture is inseparable from the support of agricultural science and technology, and the progress of agricultural science and technology is also the source of power for agricultural economic growth. This article uses Stata 12.0 to study agricultural carbon emissions, agricultural technological progress and agricultural economic development in western provinces in China. The results show that the progress of agricultural science and technology plays an important role in the development of low-carbon agriculture. It can not only help reduce agricultural carbon emissions, but also promote the development of agricultural economy, providing an important reference for the development of low-carbon agriculture.

Study on the Impact of Agricultural Technology Progress on Grain Production and Farmers’ Income

Agricultural technological progress plays an important role in a country’s food security and farmers’ income. This paper analyzes the current situation of agricultural technology progress, grain production and farmers’ income in China. Secondly, the problems and causes about grain production and farmers’ income are researched. At last, policies and measures are put forward on how to use agricultural technological progress to promote grain output and increase farmers’ income.

A Method for Estimating Output Elasticity of Input Factors in Cobb-Douglas Production Function and Measuring Agricultural Technological Progress

When using the Cobb-Douglas (C-D) production function to measure the contribution rate of agricultural technological progress (ATP), it is necessary to estimate the output elasticity coefficient (OEC) of each input factor in C-D production function. For this purpose, it is usually necessary to take logarithm at both sides of C-D production function and convert it into a linear function, and then use regression analysis method to estimate the OECs of input factors. However, there are some problems in this method remains unsolved: first, the OECs estimated by taking logarithm of C-D production function are not the optimal estimation of the original C-D production function; second, the regression results sometimes fail to pass statistical test; third, some OECs cannot be guaranteed to be non-negative. Aiming at resolving these problems, a method for estimating OECs in C-D production function based on the Hybrid Improved Bat Optimization Algorithm (HIBA) was proposed. This method solves the problems existing in the OEC estimation methods in the existing literatures. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed method in this study, the OECs of input factors in China' Sichuan Province from 1996 to 2018 was estimated. The estimation results show that, compared with other estimation methods in the existing literatures, the proposed method can not only guarantee that it is the optimal estimation of the OECs in the original C-D production function, but also ensure that the OECs are non-negative and with high precision and good fitting effect. Finally, based on the estimation results, this study measured and analyzed the contribution rate of agricultural input factors and ATP of Sichuan Province and puts forward corresponding suggestions for the agricultural development in this region.

Border effect of agricultural trade between China and the Belt and Road countries: a computable general equilibrium model analysis

In this paper, we constructed a global trade computable general equilibrium model using the input-output table data in 2002, 2007, 2010, and 2015 to measure the border effect of the bilateral trade of agricultural products between China and the Belt and Road (B&R) countries, and designed a simulation analysis under different scenarios for the impact of the B&R initiative on China’s agricultural trade. We discovered that: (1) The border effect of agricultural product trade between China and the B&R countries decreased by 20.9% in 2015 compared with that in 2010, which means that the B&R initiative to some extent reduced the trade barriers and promoted the bilateral agricultural trade between China and the B&R countries. (2) There are different changes in border effect between China’s domestic regions and between unilateral and bilateral border, the decline of border effect in China’s costal area is larger than that in inland area, and the decline in import border is larger than that in export border. (3) With the improvement of the B&R framework and the implementation of supporting policies, the decline in trade costs and in local agricultural product preference as well as the agricultural technology progress will further reduce the border effect. China’s domestic regional trade gap will gradually narrow, the bilateral agricultural trade will be highly active, and the continuous growth of agricultural trade will emerge between China and the B&R countries.

Spatial correlation of China’s agricultural greenhouse gas emissions: a technology spillover perspective

Global warming is a key issue that is related to the sustainable development of various countries, and agricultural sectors are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change and increasing climate variability. To obtain a better understanding of agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the estimation method proposed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was used to estimate agricultural GHG emissions in 31 provinces in China with respect to five factors: agricultural energy consumption, agricultural farmland utilization, crop cultivation, ruminant feeding, and straw burning. To analyze emission reduction strategy interactions as well as the spillover of agricultural technical information between regions, we used the spatial Durbin model and further explored the different channels of technology spillover. The results obtained were as follows: (1) ruminant feeding and straw burning are the major sources of agricultural GHG emissions in China; (2) emission reduction strategies interact in the various regions, and imitation behaviors are increasing; (3) the correlation of agricultural GHG emission reduction in the different regions in China is not only limited to direct imitation behaviors, and it also reflects the spillover of technical information, i.e., agricultural technological progress plays an important role in the regional linkages of agricultural GHG emissions; (4) a shortening of the economic distance facilitates agricultural technology exchanges between regions. Therefore, to reduce agricultural GHG emissions, it is recommended that all regions should establish regional cooperative emission reduction mechanisms via agricultural technical cooperation.

Study on evaluation of regional cultivated land quality based on resource-asset-capital attributes and its spatial mechanism

In the context of rapid urbanization, changes in human demand and agricultural technology progress have deeply expanded the cultivated land attribute dimensions. Thus, evaluating the regional cultivated land quality with different attributes and studying its spatial mechanism is of great theoretical and practical significance. Based on the analytical framework of resource-asset-capital attributes of cultivated land quality, multi-source data were used to evaluate the quality indexes of 5332 cultivated land plots with different attributes in Quzhou county. Then, some spatial analysis models were applied to explore the spatial distribution features of these three quality attributes. The results showed that 1) in the analytical framework of resource-asset-capital attributes of regional cultivated land quality, the resource quality meant the natural production capacity of cultivated land. However, asset quality and capital quality indicate the ability of cultivated land to bring wealth, rights and surplus profits to humans. 2) Considerable gaps existed in the evaluation results of different quality attributes in Quzhou. The proportions of good, medium, and lower quality cultivated land in the total cultivated land area of resource quality was 40.35%, 23.78% and 35.87%, the proportions were 40.35%, 23.78% and 35.87% in the asset quality area and 30.87%, 28.48% and 40.65% in the capital quality area, respectively. 3) The spatial patterns of the three quality attributes all showed obvious positive autocorrelation, with numerical values of 0.705 3, 0.846 4 and.0.969 0 in resource, asset and capital quality, respectively. The cultivated land quality in southwest Quzhou was relatively high, while that in central Quzhou was poor. 4) The distribution of cultivated land resource quality was more even than that of asset and capital quality, while the spatial structures of asset and capital quality have better stability and continuity than that of resource quality. According to the different quality attribute characteristics, various suggestions were provided to improve the efficiency of cultivated land quality construction and to promote sustainable development in Quzhou county.

Technological change and inequality in the very long run

Abstract In this paper we investigate the impact of technological change on inequality in the presence of a landed elite using a standard unified growth model. We measure inequality by the ratio between land rent and wages and show that, before the onset of the fertility transition, technological progress increased inequality directly through land-biased technological change and indirectly through increasing population growth. The fertility transition and the child quantity-quality trade-off eventually disabled the Malthusian mechanism, and technological progress triggered education and benefited workers. If the elasticity of substitution between land and labor is sufficiently high, the rent-wage ratio declines such that inequality is hump-shaped in the very long run. We use the publication of new farming book titles as a measure of technological progress in agriculture, and provide evidence for technology-driven inequality in Britain between 1525 and 1895. We confirm these results for a panel of European countries over the period 1265–1850 using agricultural productivity as a measure of technology. Finally, using patents in the period 1800–1980, we find a technology-driven inequality reversal around the onset of the fertility transition.

Factor Analysis of Prices and Agricultural Production in the European Union

Abstract Common agricultural policy (CAP) is a factor of development and cohesion of the European Union (EU) agriculture. The fundamentals of CAP were defined in the 1950s, when the Union was formed. Since then, CAP has been reforming and adapting to new circumstances. Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union defines the goals of CAP: stable (acceptable) prices of agricultural products, growth, productivity and technological progress in agriculture, growth in farmers’ income and supplying the common market. Factor analysis of the prices and production goals of CAP directly or indirectly involves the following variables: prices of agricultural and industrial products, indices of the prices of cereals, meat and milk, indices of the prices of agricultural products in France and Great Britain, agricultural GDP and EU GDP. The analysis results come down to 2 factors. The first – “internal factor” is a set of indicators homogenous in terms of greater impact of CAP on their trends (the prices of agricultural products in France, income from agriculture, the prices of agricultural products in EU and Great Britain and the milk price index). The second - “external factor” is made of general and global indicators (cereals prices, EU GDP and prices in industry). Factor analysis has confirmed high correlation of goals: production growth, productivity and technological progress in agriculture as well as “reasonable” prices in agriculture. The analysis shows high correlation between agricultural and industrial products, indices of the prices of cereals, meat and milk, indices of the prices of agricultural products in France and Great Britain, agriculture GDP and EU GDP (classified into internal and external factors). In general, the results of the factor analysis justify the existence of CAP, while the EU budget support brings wider social benefits.

Technological Change and Inequality in the Very Long Run

In this paper we investigate the impact of technological change on inequality in the presence of a landed elite using a standard unified growth model. We measure inequality by the ratio between land rent and wages and show that, before the onset of the fertility transition, technological progress increased inequality directly through land-biased technological change and indirectly through increasing population growth. The fertility transition and the child quantity-quality trade-off eventually disabled the Malthusian mechanism, and technological progress triggered education and benefited workers. If the elasticity of substitution between land and labor is sufficiently high, the rent-wage ratio declines such that inequality is hump-shaped in the very long run. We use the publication of new farming book titles as a measure of technological progress in agriculture, and provide evidence for technology-driven inequality in Britain between 1525 and 1895. We confirm these results for a panel of European countries over the period 1265–1850 using agricultural productivity as a measure of technology. Finally, using patents in the period 1800–1980, we find a technology-driven inequality reversal around the onset of the fertility transition.

The Effect of Technological Progress, Demand, and Energy Policy on Agricultural and Bioenergy Markets

This study investigates the consequences of agricultural technological progress, biofuel policy, and agricultural demand growth on crop, livestock, and bioenergy markets, as well as resource usage and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, over data in the United States. We formed scenarios for future technological progress, demand growth, and biofuel policy and carried out a dynamic simulation. The major findings are: (1) Increasing technological progress reduces cropland for biofuel and cropland pasture for livestock but increases cropland for crop production; (2) Reducing corn ethanol requirements causes more cropland to move from cropping to pasture uses for livestock, however, lowering ethanol from corn residue has minor effects on cropland use; (3) Lowering the requirement of ethanol from corn lowers the price for most of the field crops and meat commodities, especially corn, hay, sorghum, and non-fed beef; (4) Technological progress and biofuel policy have significant effects of on GHG emissions. Increasing technical progress reduces overall GHG emissions. A lower corn ethanol level results in much larger GHG emissions as compared with the control case. This implies producing corn ethanol is effective in reducing emissions; and (5) Technological improvement is a key factor in meeting growing global demand for food and energy and reducing emissions.

Farm size and agricultural technology progress: Evidence from China

Using a comprehensive primary dataset collected from 3680 farmers in certain districts of China and a long-time panel dataset of 31 of China's provinces from 2000 to 2012, an empirically analyzed work is presented in this paper on the impact of farm size on agricultural technology progress from both micro and macro perspectives.A Multivariate Probit Model was built to analyze and clarify the micro basis on which farm size affects technology progress. The impact of farm size on farmers' willingness to adopt new technologies, their technical preference, and their behaviors to acquire agricultural knowledge was tested by model estimation. The influence of farmers’ average scale on agricultural technology progress in most regions was estimated by using fixed-effect and random-effect models. The progress of technology was measured by the technology progressing rate (TPR), which is calculated by the trans-log stochastic frontier function.The results show that farmers with larger farms are more willing to adopt new technologies, spend more time and money in the pursuit of agricultural knowledge, and pay more attention to productive technology rather than processing technology. From the regional analysis, it seems the regions with larger farms have a much higher technology progress rate overall, and while the effect varies depending on scale, there are remarkably positive impacts in large-farm regions, slightly negative impacts in medium-sized farm regions, and notable negative impact in small-farm regions.

Technology Spillovers and Land Use Change: Empirical Evidence from Global Agriculture

AbstractWe estimate the effects of agricultural technological progress on cropland expansion at various geographical resolutions, from the country level to the world as a whole, while formally accounting for the international interdependence of national supply responses. Evidence for these effects has thus far been scant, contributing to polarized perceptions about the potential for improving agricultural technologies as a means to slow down deforestation. We find that, in most countries of the world, growth in total factor productivity (TFP) is either uncorrelated or is positively associated with cropland expansion. Yet worldwide TFP growth have been an important source of global land savings. The divergence between the country‐level and the global results is explained by the changes in production patterns as countries interact in international markets. Our preferred point estimate of the elasticity of global cropland to global TFP growth is ‐0.34. Moreover, we estimate that satisfying food demand from 1991 to 2010 without observed TFP growth would have necessitated an additional 173 million hectares, or close to 10% of the area covered by tropical rain forests.

Peasant seeds in Europe: stakes and prospects.

The myth of technological progress in agriculture and then modern plant breeding have resulted in a separation of farming from breeding activities. Seed laws have also contributed to this outcome (e.g. by imposing strict rules for the entry of varieties in the official catalogue). Nowadays, some pioneers, among them farmers rejecting industrialized agriculture and more often practising organic agriculture, are proposing a different option. In Europe, since the beginning of this century, they have been organizing themselves in networks: the Reseau Semences Paysannes in France, the Red de Semillas in Spain and the Rete Semi Rurali in Italy. Their members are farmers, consumers and scientists working together in order to reconsider the scientific, technical and legal aspects of seed production. These new varieties are designated ‘peasant varieties’, a concept that encompasses two main aspects: the seed, the reproductive part of the plant linked to its terroir, and the variety, shaped by history and coevolved with farmers. Scientists working with these networks are developing participatory plant breeding projects, which aim to broaden agrobiodiversity by creating so called new peasant varieties. The basis of these projects comes from old local varieties and landraces conserved in seed banks. In Europe, the legal framework has evolved since the establishment of ‘conservation varieties’ by directive 98/95. The European research project Farm Seed Opportunities is under way to support new seed policies, in the light also of the different national contexts. The debate in Europe now offers a range of seed systems models. It is time to enlarge this debate to southern countries through the sharing of knowledge between farmers of the North and the South, aiming at conserving agrobiodiversity and promoting rural innovation.

TEORIJA PRIVREDNOG RASTA - MALTUSOVA ZAMKA

The paper presents the theory of “Malthusian trap”, according to which the population is trapped in the intersection of the two laws. He found that the population is growing at a Adresa autora zaduženog za korespodenciju: Dragan Momirovic  draganmomirovic@ymail.com Momirovic D. Teorija privrednog rasta Maltusova zamka FBIM Transactions Vol. 3 No. 1 pp. 160-167 Published: January 2015 MESTE │ 161 geometric progression and the production of food and other resources by arithmetic progression. How is the land of fixed production resource with limited food production further population growth increases hunger, disease and war. Although the theory was created almost two centuries ago and was based solely on the principles of the time, where agriculture was the main source of development, it is done today. Despite the considerable technical and technological progress in agriculture, many countries today are unconsciously experienced effect called “Malthusian Fixed surface area and volume of work add newborn population leads to the law of diminishing returns per worker. Insufficient capital with low productivity in many poor countries, affecting the population to produce food for their own needs hardly let alone a surplus for the market. In these countries, agricultural production cannot follow the growth of the population and leads to famines and increased mortality rates. In contrast, developed countries that have large amounts of capital are constantly investing in the development of new technical and technological innovations in agriculture, improved cultural practices and irrigation systems, and thus a multiple increase food production. This way they managed to avoid the risk of Malthusian trap. However, new technologies, cultural practices and irrigation systems are not omnipotent. With further uncontrolled population growth and a fixed land area threatened by a real danger that the developed countries fall into Malthusian trap. Therefore, it has already taken some measures to combat this potential threat in terms of family planning, limiting the number of births of children, the fight against poverty, education, population, settling unpopulated areas and the like.

The Effects of Agricultural Technological Progress on Deforestation: What Do We Really Know?

AbstractIncreasing agricultural yields seem an obvious way to satisfy increasing demands for food and fuel while minimizing expansion of agriculture into forest areas; however, an influential literature worries that promoting agricultural innovation could enhance agriculture's profitability thereby encouraging deforestation. Clarifying the effects of agricultural technological progress on deforestation is therefore crucial for designing effective policy responses to the challenges faced by global agriculture. In this article we review the empirical evidence on these effects and synthesize estimates of future global cropland expansion. Our main insights are that: (i) the empirical evidence on a positive link between regional technological progress and deforestation is much weaker than what seems generally accepted; (ii) at a global level, most analysts expect broad based technological progress to be land saving; however, composition effects are important as low‐yield, land‐abundant regions are likely to experience further land expansion. Toward the future, empirical work understanding how localized technological progress in agriculture transmits through international trade and commodity markets will help to bridge the gap between the findings of local, econometric, studies on the one hand and global, model based, studies on the other.

Climate change vulnerability and adaptation strategies in Egypt’s agricultural sector

Egyptian agriculture is vulnerable to potential climate change due to its dependence on irrigated crops, a climate that is too dry to support crops, and increasing water demands. This study analyzes the agricultural implications of climate change and population growth plus possible adaptations strategies. A partial equilibrium model that simulates crop and livestock production along with water flows and non-agricultural water use is used to analyze the impact of climate change. The study examines the implications of climate change effects on crop yields, livestock performance, non-agricultural water use, water supply, irrigation water use, sea level rise and a growing population. Results indicate that climate change damages the Egyptian agricultural sector and the damages increase over time (2030–2060). Prices for agricultural commodities increase and this has a negative effect on consumers but a positive effect on producers. Egypt may reduce these damages by adapting through lower demand growth, raised agricultural technological progress, sea rise protection and water conservation strategies.

Did agricultural technological changes affect China's regional disparity?

PurposeChina's agricultural sector has developed very rapidly in the past 30 years and agricultural technological progress is deemed one of the most substantial factors leading to its rapid agricultural GDP growth. The purpose of this paper is to assess the impacts of China's agricultural technological changes on its regional disparity.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model of multiple regions and multiple sectors to investigate the impacts of agricultural technological changes on regional disparity. The CGE model structure includes production side, demand side, and market clearing conditions.FindingsThe results suggest that agricultural technological changes significantly reduced China's agricultural regional disparity and accounted for 40 percent reduction in agricultural regional disparity in terms of agricultural GDP per capita. Agricultural technological changes, however, led to an increase in China's overall regional disparity and accounted for 6 percent increase in its overall regional disparity in terms of per capita GDP.Practical implicationsChina's GDP has been growing very rapidly since 1978 and agricultural GDP has been playing a decreasing role in China's overall GDP. Regional disparity in non‐agricultural GDP per capita overweighted the equalization of agricultural GDP per capita. The results imply that the Chinese government should resort more to non‐agricultural development to fight against the enlarging regional disparity.Originality/valueChina's agricultural technological changes have led to an increase in China's overall regional disparity while the changes have significantly reduced China's agricultural regional disparity.