HSD: Land-User Interactions and Spatial Externalities in Organic Farming (Upper Midwest, USA) and Agrobiodiversity Production (Bolivia)

农业土地利用的迅速而深刻的变化，如有机农业的扩大和农业生物多样性生产的下降，正在导致人们对不同农业景观中的空间集群的兴趣增加，在这些景观中，邻近的农民种植相同的作物，使用相同或类似的技术方法、管理技术以及与环境和资源相关的实践。这个跨学科的研究项目将通过关注美国中西部北部的有机奶牛养殖和玻利维亚中部的高农业生物多样性玉米农业的实证案例研究，研究人类社会互动在近期变化中的动态，这些变化涉及农业、环境因素和影响以及经济发展。这些动态将使用空间外部性的经济和地理角度进行审查。分析将集中在农民与农民之间的互动（相邻的和网络化的）以及农民与机构之间的互动。主要的研究方法将是计量经济学、微观经济模型、空间统计、遥感、调查分析、机构和人种学访谈以及土地利用和土地覆盖变化分析。调查人员将关注的主要假设是，分散的农民决定转向有机方法（中西部北部）和从农业生物多样性高的玉米转向苜蓿（玻利维亚）将倾向于创造和加强土地利用集群。聚类假设的微观经济基础是，正外部性和负外部性都会影响农业景观变化的幅度和空间格局。本研究将对空间外部性发展出一种原创性的研究与教育方法，并将在以下领域作出新的重要贡献：(1)土地利用空间外部性下农民收益的微观经济模型；(2)土地利用变化的计量经济学分析，以及识别空间外部性存在和重要性的策略；(3)整合定性研究和结构化调查数据的方法，以提高对空间外部性方向和规模的估计。(4)土地使用者互动及其对有机奶牛养殖和农业生物多样性养殖成果的影响比较分析。该项目将加强对农民相互之间以及与各机构为追求社会和环境理想目标而相互作用的复杂方式的基本认识。这项研究的社会意义和价值是基于管理政策的设计和发展，这些政策需要了解农业系统中空间相互作用的基本人-社会动态。农业土地利用的变化，如有机农业的扩大和农业生物多样性生产的下降，正在导致人们对不同农业景观中的空间集群的兴趣增加，在这些景观中，邻近的农民种植相同的作物，使用相同或类似的技术方法、管理技术以及与环境和资源相关的实践。国家、州和地方政府机构以及国际发展、环境和保护组织都对环境和发展目的的农业管理政策感兴趣。这个项目的整体设计需要一个综合的研究和教育的方法，重点是教育。项目成果将用于制定政策，以提高环境和经济发展成果。2007财年美国国家科学基金会（nsf）人类与社会动力学（HSD）竞赛的一个奖项支持该项目。所有NSF理事会和办公室都参与了HSD竞赛和HSD奖项组合的协调管理。

Rapid and profound changes in agricultural land use, such as expanded organic farming and the decline of agrobiodiversity production, are leading to increased interest in spatial clustering within diverse agricultural landscapes where neighboring farmers grow the same crops, using the same or similar technological approaches, management techniques, and environment- and resource-related practices. This interdisciplinary research project will examine the dynamics of human-social interactions in the recent changes that involve agriculture, environmental factors and impacts, and economic development by focusing on empirical case studies of organic dairy farming in the Upper Midwest of the U.S. and high-agrobiodiversity maize agriculture in central Bolivia. These dynamics will be examined using the economic and geographical perspective of spatial externalities. Analysis will be centered on farmer-farmer interactions (neighboring and networked) and farmer-institution interactions. The primary research methodologies will be econometrics, microeconomic modeling, spatial statistics, remote sensing, survey analysis, institutional and ethnographic interviews, and analyses of land-use and land-cover change. The major hypotheses on which the investigators will focus is that decentralized farmer decisions to convert to organic methods (Upper Midwest) and to switch from high-agrobiodiversity maize to alfalfa (Bolivia) will tend to create and reinforce land use clustering. The microeconomic foundation for the clustering hypothesis is that both positive and negative spatial externalities affect the magnitude and spatial pattern of agricultural landscape change. This research will develop an original research-and-education approach toward spatial externalities that will offer new and important contributions in the following areas: (1) a microeconomic model of farmer returns under spatial externalities in land use, (2) an econometric analysis of land-use change with strategies to identify the presence and importance of spatial externalities, (3) a method for integrating qualitative research and structured survey data to sharpen the estimates of the direction and magnitude of spatial externalities, and (4) a comparative analysis of land user interactions and their effects on organic dairy farming and agrobiodiversity farming outcomes.The project will enhance fundamental knowledge about the complex ways that farmers interact with each other and with institutions to pursue socially and environmentally desirable goals. The social significance and value of this research is based on the design and development of management policies that require understanding the basic human-social dynamics of spatial interactions in farming systems. Changes in agricultural land use, such as expanded organic farming and the decline of agrobiodiversity production, are leading to heightened interest in spatial clustering within diverse agricultural landscapes where neighboring farmers grow the same crops, using the same or similar technological approaches, management techniques, and environment- and resource-related practices. National, state, and local government agencies and international development, environment, and conservation organizations are all interested in agricultural management policies for both environmental and development purposes. The overall design of this project entails an integrated research-and-education approach with an emphasis on education. Project results will be used to design policies to enhance environmental and economic development outcomes. An award resulting from the FY 2007 NSF-wide competition on Human and Social Dynamics (HSD) supports this project. All NSF directorates and offices are involved in the coordinated management of the HSD competition and the portfolio of HSD awards.