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，如有机耕作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越来越感兴趣，在不同的农业景观中，邻近的农民使用相同或相似的技术方法、管理技术以及与环境和资源有关的做法种植相同的作物。这一跨学科研究项目将通过对美国中西部地区有机奶牛场和玻利维亚中部高度农业生物多样性玉米农业的实证案例研究，考察最近涉及农业、环境因素和影响以及经济发展的变化中人与社会相互作用的动态。将使用空间外部性的经济和地理角度来审查这些动态。分析将集中在农民与农民的互动(邻近的和联网的)和农民与机构的互动。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。调查人员将重点关注的主要假设是，分散的农民决定改用有机方法(中西部北部)，并从农业生物多样性高的玉米转向紫花苜蓿(玻利维亚)，这将倾向于创造和加强土地利用集群。集聚假说的微观经济学基础是，正、负空间外部性都会影响农业景观变化的幅度和空间格局。这项研究将开发一种针对空间外部性的原创性研究和教育方法，将在以下领域提供新的和重要的贡献：(1)土地利用空间外部性下农民回报的微观经济模型，(2)土地利用变化的计量经济分析，以确定空间外部性的存在和重要性，(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的方向和程度的估计，以及(4)比较分析土地使用者的相互作用及其对有机奶牛场和农业生物多样性耕作结果的影响。该项目将加强关于农民之间以及与机构相互作用以追求社会和环境合意目标的复杂方式的基本知识。这项研究的社会意义和价值基于管理政策的设计和制定，这些政策要求了解农业系统中空间相互作用的基本人类-社会动态。农业土地利用的变化，如有机耕作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聚产生更大的兴趣，在不同的农业景观中，邻近的农民使用相同或相似的技术方法、管理技术以及与环境和资源有关的做法种植相同的作物。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。该项目的总体设计要求采用以教育为重点的综合研究和教育方法。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NSF人类和社会动力学竞赛(HSD)颁发的奖项支持这一项目。NSF的所有董事和办公室都参与了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.