Green Food Industry in China: Spatial Pattern and Production Concentration Drivers

China is the largest manufacturing country globally and currently faces severe environmental problems. China needs to identify a new mode of economic growth to contribute towards environmental protection. Developing the green industry is China’s national strategy to achieve a sustainable path and prevent further degradation of the environment. This study used China’s green food certification enterprise location data to investigate the green food industry’s spatial patterns in 2018 at the agricultural district, provincial, and city levels. Then, using the geographically weighted regression (GWR) method, we evaluated the factors impacting the green food industry’s concentration. Fourteen impact factors were selected from three aspects: socioeconomic, natural, and other factors corresponding to the regional food production potential. Our results showed the following: 1) the structure and species of green food enterprises are simple, and most enterprises are plant products upstream of the industrial chain, with low additional value. There is a large potential to increase the ratio of livestock, poultry, and fishery products; 2) the regional development of the green food industry is not uniform. The green food industry tends to concentrate along the eastern coastline and Yangtze River, and the middle-lower Yangtze Plain, Huang-Huai-Hai Plain, and North East Plain account for 76% of the total production capacity. However, northern China has the highest production ability among single enterprises; 3) regional economies, natural resource conditions, and environmental quality largely impact the concentration of the green food industry. In particular, the green food industry is concentrated in regions with high gross economic levels, highly advantageous natural conditions, and high proportion of cultivated land, except cereal planting areas. Better air quality has a positive influence on the food industry’s concentration.

Energy Transport of Photocatalytic Carbon Dioxide Reduction in Optical Fiber Honeycomb Reactor Coupled with Trough Concentrated Solar Power

Thanks to the high photon efficiency and reaction density, the optical fiber monolith reactor (OFMR) for InTaO4-based CO2 photoreduction is regarded as a promising photoreactor. In this work, the OFMR coupling with parabolic trough concentrator (PTC) is proposed to enlarge the daylighting area by several times without increasing the cost of photocatalysts. Based on the Monte Carlo ray-tracing (MCRT) approach and the finite volume method (FVM), a computational model of the reaction module considering the light, heat, and mass transfer is developed to optimize the fiber honeycomb reactor coupled with the PTC. As a result, the volume-averaged concentration of production reaches 1.85 × 10−4 mol·m−3, which is much higher than the traditional OFMR with the production concentration of 9.61 × 10−6 mol·m−3 under the same condition. The optimized structure of the monolith for better photocatalytic performance is obtained. It shows that the diameters of gas channels ranging from 1.5 to 2 mm are beneficial to the reaction efficiency. Finally, the results suggested that the even number of the gas channel should be avoided due to the pseudo-steady zone in the middle of the monolith. The reaction element with the high serial number along the flow direction has the reduced reaction density and endangers the organic optical fibers especially when the serial number exceeds 5.

Improving the management of the technical condition of passenger park metropolis

The article is to improve the efficiency of urban bus transport by reducing the cost, labor and time to ensure its efficiency. The specialization is determined, expressed in the growing concentration of production, which have a commonality on a certain scale. The link is in the growth of production concentration, manifested in the increase in the size of enterprises. This is due to the development of internal cooperation, and for economic reasons. It is proved that the contradiction between the natural desire for economic dominance, as a way to preserve and increase the benefits, and the requirements of optimality that prevent this, is resolved by combining enterprises. Keyword: urbanization, maintenance and repair, transportation efficiency, urban bus transport, association

Evaluation of the Level of Production Concentration in Russian Processing Industry in the Contex of Economy Digitalization

The significant difference in the level of economic development of Russian regions allows us to consider their interaction as a relationship between the «center» and «periphery». The article highlights the factors that contribute to and hinder from production density in the «center». The author defines how economy digitalization influences these factors. To analyze the process of manufacturing industry density in Russia, we used regional data on employment and production volume in this industry from 2000 to 2016. The concentration level was estimated using the Herfindahl-Hirschman, Krugman, and CRN indices. The article demonstrates that there is an increase in geographical density of people employed in manufacturing industry in Russia. It is noted that labor productivity in manufacturing industry in the «center» consistently exceeds this indicator in the «periphery».

Assessment of the geo-ecological potential of the landscape districts (on the example of Sumy region, Ukraine)

The article is devoted to the study of the life potential support of the population, which reflects living conditions of the population in specific geosystems (on the example of the Sumy region, Ukraine). The main purpose of the article is to assess the geo-ecological potential of the regional landscape structures, namely the landscape districts of the Sumy region. The article highlights the theoretical and methodological foundations of the geoecological potential research, substantiates the theoretical aspects of the of “geo-ecological potential” concept, describes in detail the methodology of assessing geo-ecological potential, which is evaluated on the basis of natural geosystem potential, geosystem sustainability potential and technogenic geosystem load. The assessment of the natural potential of the Sumy region landscape districts (based on the humidity coefficient, the sum of active temperatures above 10°C, hydrothermal potential of phytomass productivity, annual precipitation, adverse natural processes such as landslides, flooding, rising groundwater levels, erosion, dry winds, hail, fogs) is conducted and the levels (low, below average, average and high) of the natural potential are defined. Three districts of the environmental sustainability of the regional landscape districts are established on the basis of component-by-component assessment of the meteorological potential of the atmosphere, surface water and soil sustainability potential, as well as biotic potential: below average, average and above average. The indicators of the population density of the region, coefficient of the territorial production concentration, economic development of lands (agricultural lands, built-up lands and open lands without vegetation), environmental pollution of the region (radiation and chemical air pollution, pollution of natural waters and soils) and the integrated indicator of technogenic load, which allows to establish the following levels of the technogenic load on the landscape districts of the region: below average, average and above average, are analyzed. Particular attention is paid to the assessment of the geo-ecological potential, which allows to establish 5 levels, of which only 3 are presented in Sumy region, based on which areas of geo-ecological potential of the landscape districts are identified: below average, average and above average and a map of the geo-ecological potential areas is created. It is established that the indicator of the geo-ecological potential of the landscape districts of the Sumy region ranges from 0.05 Psel-Vorskla landscape district (below average level) to 1.07 Esman’-Kleven’ landscape district (above average level). It is established that the higher the values of the natural potential and sustainability of the natural environment and the lower the indicators of technogenic load, the higher are the values of the geo-ecological potential.

Study on the Impact of Production Agglomeration of China’s Aquatic Products on Export Competitiveness

This paper collects the data of China’s aquatic products from 2002 to 2018 and studies the relationship between the production agglomeration and export competitiveness of aquatic products. This paper calculates the production Concentration Rate (CR) which reflects the degree of agglomeration of aquatic products and the Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) index which reflects the export competitiveness of aquatic products, and then uses variable intercept model with fixed effects to empirically analyze the impact of production agglomeration of three main aquatic products (fish, crustacean and shellfish) on the export competitiveness. The results show that there is an obvious phenomenon of production agglomeration of aquatic products in China. Overall, the improvement of production agglomeration of aquatic products is conducive to the promotion of export competitiveness.

Climate variability, crop and conflict: Exploring the impacts of spatial concentration in agricultural production

Although substantive agreement exists on the role of climate variability and food scarcity in increasing violence, a limited number of studies have investigated how food resources affect violent conflict. This article explores the complex linkages between climate variability, agricultural production and conflict onset, by focusing on the spatial distribution of crop production in a cross-country setting. We hypothesize that spatial differences in crop production within countries are a relevant factor in shaping the impact of climate variability on conflict in agriculturally -dependent countries. To test this hypothesis, we rely on high-resolution global gridded data on the local yield of four main crops for the period 1982–2015 and aggregate the grid-cell information on crop production to compute an empirical indicator of the spatial concentration of agricultural production within countries. Our results show that the negative impacts of climate variability lead to an increase in the spatial concentration of agricultural production within countries. In turn, the combined effect of climate extremes and crop production concentration increases the predicted probability of conflict onset by up to 14% in agriculturally dependent countries.

Priority Analysis on the Production Layout of Potato in China

Based on the panel data 2009-2018 on 23 potato producing areas in China, this paper firstly analyzes the priority of each area in potato production layout, using the production concentration index (PCI). Then, the main factors affecting the PCI of potato were identified, and used to develop an evaluation index system (EIS) for production advantage. Through entropy method, the production advantage of each area in potato cultivation was evaluated, and ranked in descending order. Finally, the priority of each area in potato production layout was measured comprehensively, and a total of 11 areas were determined as priority areas. On this basis, several suggestions were put forward to optimize the production layout of potato in China: (1) The Chinese government should give priority to the following producing areas in the planning of potato production layout: Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, and Chongqing in Northwest China; Gansu, Shaanxi, and Qinghai in Northwest China; Hebei, and Inner Mongolia in North China; Heilongjiang in Northeast China; Hubei in the winter cropping area in the south. (2) The 11 priority areas should arrange potato production as per the local situation, during the planning of crop production layout. (3) The relevant planning departments should grasp the change trend in the producing areas of potato and other water-saving crops, identify their main producing areas, and deploy water-saving crops in dry and water-deficient, which are not suitable for rice or wheat.

The concept of critical minerals as a mean of stimulate the development of subsoil use in Ukraine

Developed countries use a list of critical minerals to identify and stimulate priority areas for the mineral resource base development. The article provides an overview and main features of the terms “critical minerals”, “critical elements”, “critical commodities”, “critical materials”, “critical elements”. The criticality parameters (indicators) are supply risk and economic importance, production concentration, changing the size of the market and geological resources, market dynamics (changing prices). Various methods for assessment the criticality of minerals are analyzed in the article. Lists of critical minerals USA, Australia, EU, Canada are compared. The amount and names of critical minerals vary from region to region and may change over time. An analogue of “critical minerals” was “strategic minerals”, which existed in Ukrainian law until 2016. This term was inherited from the USSR and implies minerals, which are mainly used in the military industry. Following the example of developed countries, the legitimization and application of the concept and list of critical minerals can be a mechanism to stimulate the development of certain areas of geological exploration and mining. For this, it is necessary to determine the list of critical minerals, adapting the existing world advanced methods. Obviously, this requires special research, including marketing studies, but we can preliminarily assume which minerals will make the list and which are candidate minerals. Most likely, the list of critical minerals for Ukraine will differ significantly from the list of strategic minerals. Providing of such list in law would give certain advantages and preferences (in particular tax) to companies that perform geological exploration and mining of listed minerals in Ukraine.