Agriculture,Trade and Sustainability

In recent decades there has been growing concern about the combined undesired consequences of rapid economic growth, based on the free market movement, and developments in science and technology. This concern has placed the sustainable development concept on the world's agenda. The notion of sustainability, which originally referred mostly to the environmental consequences of human activities, along with their economic and social aspects, has been discussed not only at the national and the global levels but also in relation to particular sectors of the economy. One such sector is agriculture, which to be sustainable must be ecologically sound, economically viable, and socially responsible. Unless current trade and agricultural policies are geared to creating such a structure, sustainability will be no more than a myth in the industrialized and globalized world, while considerable numbers of people will be left struggling with hunger and poverty. Ethical, fair trade and ecologic agricultural practices, such as organic farming, have been suggested as alternatives to existing practices. However, with their current and potential size, these alternatives cannot compete with existing production and trade systems. But these alternatives nevertheless highlight the main problems of current day free trade and industrialized agriculture structures and their related solutions.

This paper reviews the concepts of sustainable development and sustainable agriculture: it raises the question whether the world-wide free market economy is really free, and it considers the undesired consequences of this economy by focusing on the relationship between sustainable agriculture and agriculture-related trade policies.     

Transition and Trade Perspectives on Eastern European Agriculture

In the economic and political restructuring of Eastern Europe, a new agricultural structure is taking shape, based upon private ownership, genuine cooperatives, and a market economy. Agricultural trade policy in six Eastern European nations will be characterized by the aim of self-sufficiency, but privatized and centered around market methods, improvement in agricultural systems will occur slowly, and over the long term may achieve self-sufficiency and greater exports. Meanwhile, Eastern European agriculture will provide investment and market opportunities for countries of the developed world.     

农业的全球化：大米贸易的警示

近年来 ,全球化问题是国际和国内社会科学许多领域讨论得最热烈的话题之一。占统治地位的观点认为 :全球化和世界体系是从近代开始的 ,这一体系以西欧资本主义为中心 ,向边缘地区、次边缘地区发散 ;或者 ,资本主义世界体系把世界划分为主宰国家和附属国家 ,等等。总之 ,这种观点认为 ,世界体系的中心是欧洲和北美。贡德·弗兰克的《白银资本》对这一占统治地位的观点提出挑战 ,认为整体的世界体系不是从资本主义开始的 ,它在很早以前就存在了 ;它不是存在五百年 ,而是五千年。他通过研究 1 6 40年的世界史 ,特别是围绕白银资本在一些国家所产生的作用 ,认为那个时候 ,世界体系的中心不是在西方 ,而是在东方。无独有偶 ,现任美国农业历史学会主席彼得·考克莱尼斯也对这一传统观点提出了挑战 ,但是 ,他论点的提出是建立在更有充分论据的基础上。他赞同《共产党宣言》中马克思和恩格斯关于资本主义对全球一体化产生了积极作用的观点 ,但是 ,他进一步认为 ,全球化是一个非常复杂的问题。他通过对世界一体化大米市场形成历史的考察 ,提出 :全球化问题不是一个新问题 ,它已有很长的历史 ;今天工业和服务业的全球化似乎是重复和再现很久以前农业全球化的现象 ;而且 ,全球化进程中国家对国家的影响不是单方向的     

Settlement and Trade from AD 500 to 1800 at Angoche,Mozambique

Angoche was an important historic trading port on the northern Mozambique coast. A maritime archaeological survey was undertaken of the islands and mainland to study Swahili trade, clarify the sequence of settlement development and record the exploitation of resources during the medieval and post-medieval periods. Previous archaeological investigations have revealed local ceramics from the early second millennium AD and imports from the late fifteenth century. According to oral traditions and ancient sources, Angoche’s growth is associated with the arrival of coastal settlers from Kilwa in 1485. The survey revealed evidence for occupation dating from c. AD 500 and trading evidence from the late first millennium AD. Artefacts from the thirteenth to sixteenth century on the islands are similar to those found at Kilwa and Sofala, which shows a link to Kilwa earlier than the oral traditions and the name of one of the Angoche Islands ‘Quilua’, is Kilwa in Portuguese. The islands are well resourced in terms of rice, mangrove wood, seafood and farmland and offer sheltered inlets and access to the coastal trade route. The name of Angoche relates to a port of call and the presence of ninth-tenth-century- storage vessels from southern Iran supports this theory. Traded glass and ceramic artifacts and beads increase from the late medieval period revealing that Angoche became an important and wealthy entrepôt. The lack of coral limestone and reef coral, on the sandy Angoche Islands, indicates some building materials would have had to have been imported. Although many buildings would have been made of wood, some stone ruins are likely to have been demolished and burnt to make lime. The original stratigraphy of many sites has been destroyed by aeolian and marine processes but the survey has shown that valuable information on settlement location and ethnographic practices can still be recovered.     

Maritime Archaeology and the Early Atlantic Trade: research at Elmina,Ghana

This article details recent maritime archaeological research off the town of Elmina in coastal Ghana. Founded in 1482, Elmina Castle was the first and largest European outpost in sub‐Saharan West Africa, and remained a centre of maritime trade for almost four centuries. Survey and diver investigations led to the discovery of several sites, including a shipwreck dating to the mid 17th century, which is characterized by a mass of trade goods, cannon and buried hull remains. A second Dutch vessel dating to c.1700 was documented after its discovery during dredging operations in the Benya Lagoon adjacent to Elmina. These sites present an opportunity to study ships and cargoes involved in the West African trade.     

An Imperial Vision: The American Presence at European Trade Fairs

Book reviewed in this article:
Robert H. Haddow, Pavilions of Plenty: Exhibiting American Culture Abroad in the 1950s     

秦、西汉时期关中农业发展的地域差异

在秦汉定都关中期间,围绕都城的建设与发展,关中内部的农业生产格局发生了较大变化,生产重心日益向东北方向倾斜。西汉后期关中东部渭北地区是关中农业生产的重心;西南部的农耕经济则几乎完全遭到毁灭;西北、东南部的农业生产虽有较大发展,其速度较东北部而言,却相对缓慢。     

Integrating Local and Regional in Pre-Contact Hawaiian Agriculture at Kahuku,Hawai‘i Island

ABSTRACT

The agricultural systems of the Hawaiian archipelago were some of the most intensive in the Pacific and this scale of intensity is well illustrated by the large agricultural landscapes of leeward Hawai‘i Island. Previous research in the area has centred on understanding the relationship between agriculture, political process, and large-scale environmental conditions. Much of this research has been oriented at the regional level, privileging discussion of elite management and oversight, with only limited investigation exploring farmer-centric adaptation at local scales. In this paper, we assess the integration of local and regional processes in Hawaiian agriculture using recent paired archaeological and ecological data from the Ka‘ū Field System as a case study. We demonstrate the presence of both general patterns previously identified in the archipelago and particular adaptations to the local environment of Kahuku ahupua‘a. In particular, we highlight targeted infrastructural developments that allowed for cultivation of what would otherwise be a difficult cultivation medium within the confines of a larger, likely regionally organised, field system constrained by general soil biogeochemical thresholds. We argue that such investigations provide an increased understanding on how these large-scale agricultural landscapes were formed by integration at multiple social and spatial scales.     

下川文化的生态特点与粟作农业的起源

本文的主要论题是：一、下川文化的生态特点与农业文化的联系；二、农业起源的理论与粟作农业起源的一些问题；三、农业起源研究的现状给粟作农业起源提供了科学的时空界段；四、中国粟作农业源头的探索。     

Wintering at Little Island Rock: A Fur Trade Site on Grand Island

Abstract

Research conducted by Hiawatha National Forest personnel in 2000–2002 investigated the well-preserved archaeological remains of a circa 1820s fur trader’s wintering post located on Grand Island, near the south shore of Lake Superior. The most likely occupant of this post was Henry A. Levake, a trader from Sault Sainte Marie (St. Mary’s Falls) who was accompanied by his Native American wife. Both archaeological and historical information show that the Little Island Rock Post is an example of a specialized cold-climate adaptation developed in the boreal forests of North America and in the northern portion of the temperate forests to the south. Key elements of this adaptation include: location near a late fall or winter fishery, use of large amounts of clay for chimney construction, and the presence of ample storage facilities, especially pits. Features associated with this adaptation at the Little Island Rock Post also reflect the multiethnic occupational subculture of the fur trade. This site fills a large gap in the known distribution of wintering post archaeological sites across North America.     

绿色农业视角下青海特色农业发展路径及对策

绿色农业是二十一世纪农业发展的理想模式。青海独特的地域环境和资源条件形成了丰富的特色农业资源,也为发展绿色农业奠定了基础。文章通过对青海特色农业绿色化发展条件的分析,指出了特色农业的发展目标,并提出了实施路径及相关对策。     

论改善中日贸易结构与转变中日贸易增长方式

改革开放以后,中国外贸取得了举世瞩目的成就。日本曾连续11年成为中国最大的贸易伙伴,中日贸易额在2006年首次突破2000亿美元大关。在对华直接投资中,日本仅次于港澳台地区。但中日贸易结构仍较落后。日本的对华直接投资能否有助于中日贸易结构的改善和中日贸易增长方式的改变,促进中日贸易更好地发展是本文探讨的主要问题。     

Reforming Cuban Agriculture

This article focuses on the two major reforms undertaken in the Cuban agricultural sector during 1993 and 1994: the re-organization of the state farm sector into worker-managed production co-operatives and the opening of free agricultural markets for above-plan production. It is argued that the Cuban agricultural sector is now characterized by multiple forms of organization of production and land tenure or a ‘mixed economy’, and that the two reforms have produced a turn-around in agricultural performance. Still, the macro-economic impact is likely to depend on a deepening of the reforms in two directions: the development of a free market in agricultural inputs and a reform of the food rationing system.     

The Neoliberalization of Development: Trade Capacity Building and Security at the US Agency for International Development

Abstract: This paper examines recent changes at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) regarding the connections between trade liberalization, development, and security. USAID has adopted “trade capacity building” as a framework for development, and, in conjunction with new US national security discourses, now operates under the assumption that underdevelopment is a source of state weakness that produces insecurity. I argue that these changes in how USAID understands and undertakes development constitute the neoliberalization of development. In accordance with these shifts, USAID has redefined critical aspects of its development mission, undergone internal restructuring, and altered its relationship with other US state institutions and capital. The actual prospects for achieving security or development are slim, however, as the agency remains wedded to definitions of both that suggest the only acceptable role for the state lies in facilitating further neoliberalization and promoting the stability of capitalist class relations. An overview of USAID's historical development, and a closer examination of the place of food aid and food security in the agency's development work, demonstrate this.     

Trade Policy

Daniel Verdier. Democracy and International Trade: Britain, France, and the United States. 1860–1990
Judith Goldstein. Ideas, Interests, and American Trade Policy
Alfred E. Eckes, Jr. Opening America's Market: U.S. Foreign Trade Policy since 1776     

Transnational Corporations and Third World Agriculture

I prefer to use the term ‘transnational’ because it indicates the tendency of the corporations to cross national frontiers with a minimum of difficulty, whereas the connotation ‘multinational’ may suggest a kind of common ownership which actually does not exist. This article has been published in Rapport, the periodical of the Swedish International Development Authority (no. 2, 1975).