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This book assesses recent developments in the analysis of agricultural policy and water resource management, and highlights the utility and theoretical rigor of quantitative methods for modeling agricultural production, market dynamics, and natural resource management. In diverse case studies of the intersection between agriculture, environmental quality and natural resource sustainability, the authors analyze economic behavior - both at aggregate as well as at individual agent-level - in order to highlight the practical implications for decision-markers dealing with environmental and agricultural policy. The volume also addresses the challenges of doing robust analysis with limited data, and discusses the appropriate empirical approaches that can be employed. The studies in this book were inspired by the work of Richard E. Howitt, Emeritus Professor of Agricultural Economics at the University of California at Davis, USA, whose career has focused on the application of robust empirical methods to address concrete policy problems.
This book assesses recent developments in the analysis of agricultural policy and water resource management, and highlights the utility and theoretical rigor of quantitative methods for modeling agricultural production, market dynamics, and natural resource management. In diverse case studies of the intersection between agriculture, environmental quality and natural resource sustainability, the authors analyze economic behavior - both at aggregate as well as at individual agent-level - in order to highlight the practical implications for decision-markers dealing with environmental and agricultural policy. The volume also addresses the challenges of doing robust analysis with limited data, and discusses the appropriate empirical approaches that can be employed. The studies in this book were inspired by the work of Richard E. Howitt, Emeritus Professor of Agricultural Economics at the University of California at Davis, USA, whose career has focused on the application of robust empirical methods to address concrete policy problems.
Intended for aspiring and new practitioners of Participatory Research and Development (PR&D) as well as field-based researchers in developing countries. Highlights that agricultural research and development has become a joint approach to deal with diverse biophysical environments, multiple livelihood goals, rapid changes in local and global economies, and an expanded range for stakeholders over agriculture and natural resources.
Intended for aspiring and new practitioners of Participatory Research and Development (PR&D) as well as field-based researchers in developing countries. Highlights that agricultural research and development has become a joint approach to deal with diverse biophysical environments, multiple livelihood goals, rapid changes in local and global economies, and an expanded range for stakeholders over agriculture and natural resources.
Forword It was agriculture that enabled human beings to become producers rather than hunters and gatherers, and in doing so to settle into communities. From these earliest settlements have developed the elaborate and complex societies of today. During all these millennia, we have tended to take agriculture for granted. This is unfortunate, and unfair by all those - farm men and women in the fields, scientists in their laboratories, and policy makers in parliaments and elsewhere, for instance - who have contributed to the development of agriculture; an enterprise that is as significant as it is exciting. The history of modern agriculture which has made possible the greatest leap in well-being that the human family has yet experienced, has seen the integration of research-based knowledge with traditional wisdom to bring about great improvements in agricultural varieties, farming techniques and management practices. The consequence of that “marriage” has been undreamed of increases of food productivity which served as the center of concentric circles of progress. Understanding that process and, more important, the substance that made - and can continue to make - that process work, is the task of agricultural education. The origins of agricultural education as we know it today, and the challenges that lie ahead of it, are the central themes of this marvelous little book by Dean Lindsay Falvey. This is a very personal book. It is not just a scholarly recounting of events, an arid collection of theories, or a series of anecdotal episodes strung together. It bespeaks intense knowledge of the subject and material as well as personal experience in the field. Most of all, however, it presents agricultural education as a societal endeavor whose future development is of clear relevance to the progress of all people everywhere. It is presented with a rare combination of erudition and a warm sense of humanity. The major challenge for the future, as he points out, is for agricultural education to explore and fully comprehend the complex interactions of science, people, and the environment; to strengthen its relevance by grappling with the scientific issues, both national and international, that affect the continued transformation of agriculture and the protection of the natural resources on which agriculture depends. For all those like myself who believe that agriculture and agricultural research, more specifically, stand at the very heart of the future of humanity, it is important to be aware of the strength and the weaknesses of current agricultural education. It is only from that starting point that we can move towards ensuring that agricultural education remains relevant, interesting, and vibrant. Dean Falvey makes a signal contribution to helping us acquire such understanding. He makes the material easily accessible in an engaging and “user friendly” style. He has organized his text in such a way that it can attract many classes of readers. He caters to the needs of browsers, dedicated readers who have not succumbed to the “sound bite syndrome”, teachers who seek out resource material, students who want to be inspired, specialists who are interested only in information on a particular topic, or even those who do not wish to handle a book at all but want access to it in electronic form. For those who want their minds to soar, there is poetry as well. This is truly a book for our times by an author whose knowledge and interests are not bound by time. From yesterday’s experience he challenges us to create bright tomorrows. Dare we evade that challenge? Ismail Serageldin Chairman, The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research Vice President for Environmentally Sustainable Development, The World Bank
Part I: Introduction; Part II: Valuation of ecosystem services and biophysical indicators of NRM impacts; Part III: Methodological advances for a comprehensive impact assessment; Part IV: NRM impact assessment in practice.
Natural resources support all human productivity. The sustainable management of natural resources is among the preeminent problems of the current century. Sustainability and the implied professional responsibility start here. This book uses applied mathematics familiar to undergraduate engineers and scientists to examine natural resource management and its role in framing sustainability. Renewable and nonrenewable resources are covered, along with living and sterile resources. Examples and applications are drawn from petroleum, fisheries, and water resources. Each chapter contains problems illustrating the material. Simple programs in commonly available packages (Excel, MATLAB) support the text. The material is a natural prelude to more advanced study in ecology, conservation, and population dynamics, as well as engineering and science. The mathematical description is kept within what an undergraduate student in the sciences or engineering would normally be expected to master for natural systems. The purpose is to allow students to confront natural resource problems early in their preparation.
In response to increasing concerns about the degradation of natural resources and the sustainability of agriculture, many research programmes have been established in natural resource management (NRM). However, although methods for evaluating the impacts of crop improvement technologies are well developed, there is a dearth of methods for evaluating the impacts of NRM interventions. This is partly due to the complexity of interactions among natural resources, spatial and temporal dimensions of impact, and the valuation of direct and indirect environmental costs and benefits. This book discusses the unique features and methodological difficulties of NRM impact assessment. It examines the strengths and weaknesses of various impact assessment approaches, including econometric, bio-economic, and more direct methods. It also assesses and identifies data requirements for developing impact indicators and recommends suitable methodologies for assessing the impacts of NRM technologies on issues such as soil and water conservation and watershed and biodiversity management.