Using insurance to enhance nitrogen fertilizer application to reduce nitrogen losses to the environment

Can e-commerce alleviate agricultural non-point source pollution? - A quasi-natural experiment based on a China's E-Commerce Demonstration City

Agricultural non-point source pollution is an important driving factor that causes systemic pollution of the ecological environment and directly threatens the sustainable development of agriculture, human health, and safety. As a new engine to reshape the agricultural development model, e-commerce is of great significance to the mitigation of agricultural non-point source pollution. This study regards China's National E-commerce Demonstration Cities (NEDCs) as a quasi-natural experiment and uses the Multi-period difference in difference (DID) method to investigate the impact of urban e-commerce development on agricultural non-point source pollution and its mechanism. The results show that compared with the control group, the NEDC policy reduced the total fertilizer consumption in the pilot cities by 7.5 percentage points, and at the same time had a reduction effect on the consumption of nitrogen fertilizers, pesticides, and agricultural films. According to the analysis of the underlying mechanism, this abatement effect is achieved by increasing the economic performance of the NEDC pilot cities represented by GDP and GDP per capita, and promoting technological innovation represented by green patents and green utility patents. The analysis of heterogeneity finds that the reduction effect of e-commerce on agricultural non-point source pollution is stronger in areas such as main grain production areas and high-value agrochemical input areas. Accordingly, this study proposes that the government should pay attention to regional heterogeneity and formulate support policies for agricultural e-commerce based on local conditions. Moreover, we should actively advance the development of the new business model of "e-commerce + agriculture" and promote the organic integration of agricultural development and ecological civilization.

Demystifying risk attitudes and fertilizer use: A review focusing on the behavioral factors associated with agricultural nitrogen emissions in South Asia

Fertilizer use is environmentally unsustainable in South Asia. Ideally, farmers would follow optimal fertilization rates for crops based on scientific recommendations. However, there is ample evidence on why farmers under-fertilize or over-fertilize their crops. Important amongst them is that farmers' attitude to risk influences decisions on fertilizer use. This paper reviews studies on the effects of risk attitude on fertilizer use, the timing of application, and application intensity. We observe that the use of fertilizer is affected by perceptions of fertilizer as a risk-enhancing or risk-reducing input. In order to influence the future fertilizer decisions of farmers, several policy measures are suggested. Among these, gradual withdrawal of fertilizer subsidies, repurposing subsides toward improved technologies that increase productivity, improves nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) and reduce emission, providing enhanced-efficiency fertilizers and eliminating the fraudulent practice of fertilizer adulteration may be the most appropriate in a South Asian context.

N and P runoff losses in China's vegetable production systems: Loss characteristics, impact, and management practices

Vegetable production systems involve the use of high rates of fertilizer application, leading to significant losses of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) to the environment, resulting in water body eutrophication through surface runoff and leaching. We here quantify, at the national level, total N and P runoff losses and the key factors controlling runoff in open-field vegetable systems in China, by summarizing data from 151 publications pertaining to 13 Chinese provinces using literature dating back to 1990. Rank analysis was employed to clarify the impact of N and P runoff losses in vegetable systems, and different strategies for controlling N and P entering into water bodies are being compared. Vegetable production systems have higher fertilizer inputs (264.3 kg N ha^-1, 101.0 kg P ha^-1) compared with upland crop and rice cultivation. As a result, annual total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) losses via runoff from vegetable systems reached 16.5 kg ha^-1 and 3.45 kg ha^-1, respectively, and the N and P loss ratio for fruit vegetable systems reached 13.1% and 3.95% of the total fertilizer input, respectively. In the summer-autumn growing season, soil nutrient losses were the highest, accounting for 44% to 89% of the whole year. Redundancy analysis revealed that the most critical factor determining runoff losses was runoff volume. N and P runoff losses were also largely dependent on total soil N (TSN) and Olsen-P, respectively. Therefore, quantitative data for the national N and P runoff losses in vegetable production systems provide a scientific basis for an effective optimization of fertilizer applications.