Multifunctional agriculture (MFA) has attracted increased attention from academics and policymakers in recent years. Academic researchers have utilised various approaches to assess and measure the multifunctionality of agriculture and rural landscapes. This paper outlines the nature of MFA and key supporting policies, before reviewing the applied research approaches, drawing primarily from the European Union and China where specific policies on MFA have been implemented to support rural development and promote sustainable rural communities. Four distinct types of valuation of modern MFA are recognised: economic, biophysical, socio-cultural, and holistic. Following a search of both the recent and older MFA literature, evaluations of the strengths and weaknesses of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods applications are provided using examples from a range of recent studies. The review illustrates the diversity of approaches to measure MFA. While noting that many studies operate at a landscape scale, the challenge remains that the lack of commonality in the research approaches applied means it is difficult to provide effective comparisons between studies or to compare findings. A future research agenda will need to emphasise the need for more consideration of the roles of MFA research to support decision-makers, especially policy makers, but also farmers who largely make decisions for individual farms but, if considered collectively, can transform production systems at a landscape scale.
Rapid urbanization in the past four decades has transformed the hinterlands of China’s major cities. While urban growth has consumed large quantities of farmland, many of the remaining farms in the country’s peri-urban fringes have responded to the nearby presence of a fast-expanding and wealthier urban market by changing the farm enterprise to cater directly for this market. The various responses are exemplified herewith, for the metropolis of Xi’an-Xianyang (13 million population), in north-west China’s Shaanxi Province. Based on participant observation and structured interviews with a sample of farmers from three peri-urban fringe villages, the study charted changes in ecosystem services as a quantitative measure of change between 1986 and 2017. An additional Delphi approach focused on the chief technological innovations during this period. The survey revealed the growing multi-functionality of those villages that had switched from traditional grain production to horticulture, supported by various government-funded programs. A significant development has been the introduction of farm-based tourism catering for urban-based tourists. The physical appearance of the fringe now resembles the so-called desakota landscape associated with south-east Asian cities, as massive new urban-industrial complexes sit alongside villages amidst islands of intensive farmland. The conclusion addresses key issues regarding the overall sustainability of agriculture within this fast-changing process of rapid urbanization.
The single frequency ultrasound mode is difficult to achieve an higher enzymolysis efficiency. The cost of protein enzymatic hydrolysis, using free enzyme is higher because the enzyme cannot be used repeatedly. Therefore, the effects of triple-frequency ultrasound (TFU) treatment on the performance, kinetics, and thermodynamics of immobilized Alcalase enzymolysis of corn gluten meal (CGM) were investigated in this research. The results showed that degree of hydrolysis (DH), peptide concentration, ACE inhibitory activity, and relative enzyme activity were increased by 20.6 %, 34.4 %, 24.1 %, and 25.8 %, respectively, by TFU treatment at the optimum conditions compared to the control. Kinetics and thermodynamic analyses revealed that TFU treatment successfully decreased the apparent constant (KM) by 27.0 % and increased the reaction rate constants (k) by 32.1 –200 % at 303.15–343.15 K. The energy of activation (Ea), enthalpy of activation (ΔH), and entropy of activation (ΔS) were reduced by 17.1 %, 15.2 –15.3 %, and 24.1 –31.8 %, respectively. Immobilized enzymolysis assisted by TFU was proved to be an efficient method to increase the enzymolysis efficiency, enzyme activity, and antihypertensive activity of the peptides through performance and mechanism discussion.
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