LIVESTOCK, STREAMS AND FARM ECONOMICS IN THE GREAT LAKES BASIN: APPLYING AN AGROECOSYSTEM FRAMEWORK

摘要

The Great Lakes Basin (GLB) is a rapidly urbanizing, densely populated region, which is also intensively agricultural. In this context, conflict between agriculture, urban development and natural resource conservation goals is inevitable, and decisions regarding tradeoffs are politically laden. The agroecosystem health approach provides a framework for studying and resolving such issues. Here, the system of interest is agriculture in the GLB. The focus is on the problem of non-point source pollution of streams using three aspects of the system, namely livestock production, stream health and farm economic health. The emphasis is on the relationships between these elements at the watershed scale, where inferences about agroecosystem carrying capacity might be made. Linkages between livestock and stream health outcomes at the farm level, and livestock production and farm economics at the farm and regional level have been well described in the literature but the implications of these linkages at the watershed scale are not reported. A theoretical model of these linkages is presented, using a combination of ecosystem and health approaches.