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Environmental concerns such as global warming are expected to require strong political action across the different sectors of the economy. In this paper, we question whether these environmental challenges aggravate the agricultural sector in delivering on agricultural policy objectives. We give an account of recent developments in Norwegian environmental policy that affect agriculture. We present results from a partial equilibrium model for the Norwegian agricultural sector in which we use various policy instruments to balance multiple agricultural and environmental objectives regarding agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper summarises environmental monitoring activities and small plot research in agriculture as practiced in the Heilongjiang province located northeast in China and in Norway. For both countries, there is a need to recommend efficient mitigation measures to farmers and monitor the environmental effect of agricultural systems and management practices. Climate change scenarios predict changes in precipitation which potentially can influence agricultural practices as well as lead to changes in run-off and related to land use as well as the environment losses. As such, cooperation in the further development of monitoring programmes and related techniques will be useful in documenting both present and future, climate change-induced changes, related land use as well as the environmental. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Winter conditions with seasonally frozen soils may have profound effects on soil structure and erodibility, and consequently for runoff and erosion. Such effects on aggregate stability are poorly documented for Nordic winter conditions. The purpose of this study was to quantify the effect of variable freeze–thaw cycles and soil moisture conditions on aggregate stability of three soils (silt, structured clay loam—clay A and levelled silty clay loam—clay B), which are representative of two erosion prone areas in southeastern Norway. A second purpose was to compare aggregate stabilities measured by the Norwegian standard procedure (rainfall simulator) and the more widely used wet-sieving procedure. Surface soil was sampled in autumn. Field moist soil was sieved into the fraction 1–4 mm and packed into cylinders. The water content of the soil was adjusted, corresponding to matric potentials of −0.75, −2 and −10 kPa. The soil cores were insulated and covered, and subjected to 0, 1, 3 or 6 freeze–thaw cycles: freezing at −15 °C for 24 h and thawing at 9 °C for 48 h. Aggregate stability was measured in a rainfall simulator (all soils) and a wet-sieving apparatus (silt and clay B). The rainfall stability of silt was found to be significantly lower than of clay A and clay B. Clay A and clay B had similar rainfall stabilities, even though it was expected that the artificially levelled clay B would have lower stability. Freezing and thawing decreased the rainfall stability of all soils, but the effect was more severe on the silt soil. There was no evident effect of water content on the stability, probably due to experimental limitations. The same effects were observed for wet-sieved soil, but the wet-sieving resulted in less aggregate breakdown than the rainfall simulator. Rainfall impact seemed to be more detrimental than wet-sieving on more unstable soil, that is, on silt soil and soil subjected to many freeze–thaw cycles. Such conditions are expected to occur frequently during field conditions in unstable winters. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Norwegian agriculture depends heavily on governmental subsidies, due to small farming units and high costs. Due to a limited home market, many agricultural productions are also quantum regulated. Milk and grain production was regulated starting in the 1950 using region specific prices. At the level of three counties in south–eastern Norway, this policy resulted in an increase in the grain producing area from 30 to 80% of total agricultural area causing a similar reduction in grassland area over a 30 year period. The change in land use caused by this policy more than doubled the estimated soil losses by water erosion. During the late seventies extensive land levelling in the same region stimulated by subsidies lead to an estimated two–three fold increase in soil erosion. The increase was especially high when former ravine landscapes used for pasture were levelled and turned into arable land that was ploughed in autumn. Very visible erosion and increasing negative offsite effects on water quality together with overproduction put an end to the subsidies for land levelling. Erosion research was started around 1980 and the results from this research lead to the introduction of several kinds of payments in the early 1990 to encourage more sustainable agricultural production. Since the policy changed there has been changes in cultivating systems and a reduction in soil erosion has been estimated. Thus, farmers’ behaviour and soil erosion in Norway is strongly influenced by agricultural and environmental policy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]