Soil Fertility on an Agricultural Frontier: The US Great Plains, 1880–2000

In contrast to most long-settled agricultural landscapes, the US Great Plains presents a rare example of well-documented agricultural colonization of new land. The Census of Agriculture provides detailed information about evolving grassland farm systems from the beginning of agricultural expansion and then at some two dozen time points between 1880 and the present. From early sod-busting, through drought and depression, and into late-twentieth-century modernization, it is possible to track how farmers used their land in any county. Treating farmland as an agroecosystem, a hybrid human-natural landscape, this article asks how farmers captured, altered, and replenished soil fertility. Did they extract more soil nitrogen than they returned, or did they maintain a balance? The article assesses land use from a soil nutrients perspective in several plains environments to capture variation in climate (especially rainfall), native soil quality, and availability of irrigation water. It traces farm management strategies through time to understand agricultural crises, growth periods, and technological transitions in the context of soil fertility. Soil management on an agricultural frontier was markedly different from that in places that had been farmed for centuries. A shortage of people and livestock and an abundance of deep, rich soils in the plains informed farmers’ calculations as they juggled labor, capital, and market forces against family and financial strategies. Uniform methods of estimating and representing soil nutrient processes make possible a direct comparison of the relative sustainability of historical agroecosystems.

Fronteras internas, extracción de rentas y enclaves ganaderos: La colonización agraria del Istmo Central mexicano, 1945-1985 / Internal frontiers, rent extraction and livestock enclaves: The agricultural colonization of the mexican Central Isthmus, 1945-1985

Este artículo analiza los procesos de construcción y expansión de redes sociales y dispositivos de patronazgo privado que coordinaron el proceso de frontera interna del Istmo de Veracruz durante la segunda mitad del siglo XX. Se interesa en particular en los diversos soportes institucionales, oficiales e informales en los que actores privados, vinculados con la red de poder del presidente Miguel Alemán, apoyaron sus estrategias de control sobre los recursos naturales y estatales movilizados en dicho proceso. En muchos aspectos, estos dispositivos sociales e institucionales se han cristalizado en dinámicas de enclaves, es decir, en la formación de espacios regulados por sistemas de reglas y autoridades privadas, segregados en lo esencial de las jurisdicciones territoriales establecidas por la ley y los reglamentos oficiales. En el Istmo Central, son dispositivos personalizados de patronazgo privado los que confirieron a las estructuras territoriales características de campos jurisdiccionales de excepción.Abstract: This article analyzes the processes through which social networks and private patronage devices developed in order to coordinate the internal frontier process in the Isthmus of Veracruz during the second half of the 20th century. It particularly focusses on the institutional bases, both official and informal, which enabled private actors, associated with the power network of President Miguel Alemán, to establish and expand their strategies for controlling the natural and state resources mobilized in this process. In many ways, such social and institutional arrangements crystallized in enclave dynamics, i.e. in the formation of spaces regulated by private sets of rules and authorities, segregated to a major extent from the territorial jurisdictions established by laws and official regulations. In the Central Isthmus, territorial structures were molded by personalized private patronage networks that conferred them the characteristics of exceptional jurisdictional fields.Keywords: internal frontier; patronage; cattle reeding; enclave; privatization.Résumé : Cet article analyse les processus de construction et d’expansion de réseaux sociaux et de dispositifs de patronage privé qui ont coordonné le processus de frontière interne dans l’Isthme de Veracruz, au cours de la seconde moitié du XXe siècle. Il s’intéresse en particulier aux bases institutionnelles, tant officielle qu’informelles, qui ont permis à des acteurs privés, associés au réseau de pouvoir du président Miguel Alemán, d’asseoir leurs stratégies de contrôle des ressources naturelles et étatiques mo­bilisées dans ce processus. A bien des égards, ces dispositifs sociaux et institutionnels se sont cristallisés dans des dynamiques d’enclave, c’est-à-dire dans la formation d’espaces régulés par des systèmes de règles et d’autorités privées, ségrégués dans une large mesure des juridictions territoriales établies par la loi et les règlements officiels. Dans l’Isthme Central, ce sont des dispositifs personnalisés de patronage privé qui ont conféré aux structures territoriales les caractéristiques de champs juridictionnels d’exception.Mots-clés : frontière interne ; patronage ; élevage bovin ; enclave ; privatisation.

Factors of Russian language spread in the North Caucasus in the second half of the 19th—early 20th century

The article examines a complex of factors that led to the wide spread of the Russian language in the post-reform North Caucasus. The Russian language as a state language had a high integrative potential, used in the formation of the imperial universe, performing at the same time obvious socio-political functions. In this capacity, the language was considered during the extensive agricultural colonization of the North Caucasian territories, as a result of which the share of the Russian-speaking population who arrived in the Caucasus began to outnumber the other ethnic groups.

Settler farming, agricultural colonisation and development in Katanga (Belgian Congo), 1910-1920

From 1908 to 1920, the Belgian Ministry of Colonies organised the first stateled agricultural colonization efforts in Katanga, Belgian Congo. This article examines the complex interactions between public and private actors and how they shaped a colonial agricultural policy. Mission Leplae had a very difficult start and was terminated after ardent discussions in the Belgian Parliament, despite the support of the Agricultural Service. This migration initiative exposed the different views and even tensions between the opinions of technical experts such as agronomists and the ideas of the colonial hommes politiques and private actors, both in Belgium and in the Congo. In this article, the image of a homogeneous colonial state acquires nuance as we unravel and analyse the daily realities and initiatives of these first Belgian agricultural settlers in the broader framework of Belgian colonial politics. When the alliance between the State, the mining sector and agricultural settlers ceased to exist, because European agriculture was not developing fast enough and geopolitical interests had changed, the government stopped supporting the colonization project. After the First World War, the number of Belgian farmers in Katanga began to increase again, mainly thanks to support from the private sector. This article shows how state support was an important but not decisive factor in the survival strategies of a settler community.

HISTORIOGRAPHIC «LANDSCAPE» ON AGRARIAN COLONIZATION OF THE STEPPE REGION IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19th – EARLY 20th CENTURY

In this article, the authors try to reveal the formation and development of historiography in the context of the Imperial experience of agrarian colonization of the steppe region in the second-half of the XIX-early XX centuries. During this period, new challenges arose for the colonization of the Steppe region, and the Russian Empire began to conduct agricultural colonization and scientific examination of territories in order to carry out administrative, territorial, and socio-economic reforms. Attracting officials, employees of the West Siberian Department of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society (WSDIRGS), as representatives of resettlement agencies, they contributed to the colonization of the Steppe territory and argued for the imperial aspect of the region's development.

PROBLEMS OF RESETTLEMENT IN THE KOMI REGION IN THE LATE XIX-EARLY XX CENTURY AND THE EXPEDITION OF P. I. SOKOLOV

Three stages of studying the problem of the possibility of settling the Komi region are considered. At the initial stage, during the second half of the XIX century, the problems of resettlement were considered in the context of the formation of a new - Pechora - uyezd and the need for its settling, the development of identified reserves of natural resources, the creation of new communication routes within the Northern region, and exits to Siberia. In the first five years of the XX century, while preserving the former motives, single expeditions were organized to study "agricultural colonization" and "Temporary rules for the formation of resettlement sites" were approved, directly affecting Ust-Sysola Uyezd. It was in this uyezd that the first areas were identified that, from the point of view of official researchers and officials, were of interest for resettlement. Their position was opposed by leaders of the local Zemstvo institutions. The starting point of the third stage was the agrarian reform of P. A. Stolypin in 1906. By results of a number of expeditions, first of all under the leadership of P. I. Sokolov in 1908-1909, almost 750 thousand tithes in the territory of 12 volosts of Ust-Sysola Uyezd were defined for settling. The beginning of the wide colonization of the Komi region was close to realization. K. F. Zhakov, famous Komi scientist, actively opposed such a scenario of events and convinced the members of the Arkhangelsk society for the study of the Russian North that he was right. Plans for the practical development of sparsely populated areas of the Komi region were unrealized, not so much because of the protests of scientific and public figures, but because of the clumsiness of the bureaucratic state machine, the lack of active and energetic supporters, the involvement of the Central authorities in resettlement projects in Siberia and because of the death in 1911 of the initiator of all agrarian reforms of the early XX century, P. A. Stolypin.

Agricultural colonization of dynamic riverine islands in a tropical wandering river

<p>We investigate the interplay between riverine islands dynamics in a large tropical wandering river and their use by local communities for agricultural production. The study focuses on a piedmont reach of the Huallaga river, which drains the Peruvian Amazon. Riverine islands are characterized by a high space-time variability in active wandering river systems like the Huallaga, which results from biophysical interactions among flow, sediment transport and riparian vegetation. Despite the rapid rates of planform changes, islands in the Huallaga are extensively used by local farmers who mainly rely on rainfed, low tech agriculture. Thanks to the high nutrient availability in their soil, dynamic riverine islands are offering a natural solution to the advancing degradation of soils due to the progressive increase of intensive monoculture in nearby floodplain areas. The possibility of using intact fields, rich in organic matter, pushes the local populations to colonize riverine islands, challenging their dynamism and high erosion. Through a combination of participatory surveys, field measurements and remote sensing analysis of the recent (30 years) reach-scale island dynamics we investigate whether the benefits of cropping in a riverine island are more relevant than the damages related to their intense morpho-dynamics. Challenges to such biophysical-social system are posed by planned and ongoing infrastructural development in the catchment, affecting the flow and sediment supply regimes.</p>

Usos da Terra e Conservação da Biodiversidade na Bacia Hidrográfica do Rio Marapanim, Pará (Land use and biodiversity conservation in the Marapanim River Basin, Pará)

A bacia hidrográfica do rio Marapanim está localizada na região nordeste do estado do Pará, que se constitui em uma das fronteiras de colonização agrícola mais antiga da Amazônia, e que ao longo do seu processo de ocupação sofreu forte pressão sobre sua cobertura vegetal. O objetivo deste trabalho é analisar a dinâmica do desmatamento, a partir dos usos da terra, e a aplicabilidade das Áreas Prioritárias para Conservação (APC) nas políticas de gestão territorial do estado como o Zoneamento Ecológico Econômico (ZEE). Os resultados mostraram um quadro grave de supressão da cobertura vegetal, que resultou em 80% da área da bacia desmatada. Esse quadro é acompanhado pela fragmentação da floresta o que ocasiona fragmentação de habitats e perda de biodiversidade. Como alternativa para a reversão desse quadro, propõe-se ações associadas ao ordenamento dos planos diretores municipais, à gestão integrada, à formação de cadeia produtiva para uso sustentável dos recursos naturais, à criação de UCs, uma vez que na área da bacia existem apenas duas de uso sustentável que são as Reservas Extrativistas Marinhas Cuiara Cuinarana e Mestre Lucindo, a fim de garantir a conservação e proteção dos remanescentes florestais na região da bacia hidrográfica do rio Marapanim. A B S T R A C TThe Marapanim River Basin, located in the northeastern region of Pará, is one of the oldest agricultural colonization frontiers in the Amazon, which caused strong pressure on the original vegetation during the occupation process. The objective of this work is to analyze the dynamics of deforestation due to land use and the importance of the Priority Areas for Conservation (PAC) for the state's territorial management policies such as the Economic Ecological Zoning (EEZ). The results showed that 80% of the basin area is already deforested. The consequences are forest fragmentation, which leads to fragmentation of habitats and loss of biodiversity. To mitigate the problem, the authors propose associated actions to (i) the municipal management plans, (ii) the integrated management, (iii) the creation of productivity chains for the sustainable use of natural resources, and (iv) the implementation of new conservation units, since there are actually only two units for sustainable use that are Marine Extractive Reserves Cuiara Cuinarana and Mestre Lucindo in the basin area. Such a methodology will ensure conservation and protection of the remaining forests in the Marapanim river basinKey words: Land use. Biodiversity. River basin.