Holger Bergmann

Economic and environmental effects of nutrient budgeting strategies in animal excreta treatment: A case study from rural China

Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to optimize manure allocation through nutrient budgeting strategy to meet crop nutrient requirements under maximizing economic returns and environmental constraints, and then to evaluate the economic and environmental effects of different nutrient budgeting strategies in animal excreta treatment. Design/methodology/approach - – In this study, a holistic integrated “ecological-economic” model is developed. It incorporates the systems of animal-crop production and waste treatment is developed for a pilot pig farm in China in order to simulate the economic and environmental effects of several nutrient budgeting strategies in excreta treatment for resource use. Findings - – The results reveal nutrient management deficiencies cause some serious environmental problems. The operations including biogas and composting are economically and environmentally efficient methods for manure management through nutrient budgeting strategy in an intensive animal farming with limited access to cropland. The nutrient budgeting strategy of constrained phosphorus, however, creates better environmental effects and brings more income from the waste treatment than the strategy of constrained nitrogen. The current standard of manure application in cropland which emphasizes on crop requirements for nitrogen should be reconsidered. Originality/value - – The paper is an original work and its methodology makes a meaningful contribution to understanding the relations between different nutrient budgeting strategies and their economic and environmental effects.

Elderly People's Perspective on Rural Medical Care - a Case Study from Northern Germany

Germanys population is decreasing and experiencing accelerated ageing. In 2060, more than a third of the population will be aged 65 years or older. With demographic change, many rural regions are struggling to ensure supply of appropriate public infrastructure while becoming less densely populated and experiencing an increasing share of immobile population groups. One of the major issues at stake is to maintain medical infrastructure at the necessary level. Although health care in Germany is still of very high standard in international comparison, in some rural areas its provision tends to be problematic. De- mographic developments aggravate this situation because of two reasons: firstly, natural decline in population and rural depopulation will lead to changes in the rural spatial structure and have impact on the provision of health care; secondly, the growing proportion of older people will simultaneously increase the demand for medical care because, with advancing age, people seek medical treatment more often than at a young age. Even so, older peoples specific needs have long been and still are neglected in health care issues. This paper presents findings of an empirical study on older peoples mobility options, obstacles that constrain the access to health care and related needs.

Willingness-To-Pay in Contingent Valuation: A Matter of Interview Situation or Respondents?

Abstract This paper analyses the factors influencing the estimated values of Willingness-To-Pay (WTP) for environmental land-based resources stated by people in Scotland in a number of Contingent Valuation (CV) studies. It explores how different frameworks influence the level of Willingness-To-Pay (WTP) by a meta-analysis. The results of nine different CV studies have been compared and analysed with the help of an Ordinary Least Squares regression model. The dataset consists of 157 observations, i.e. WTP values for a variety of such resources, ranging from £0 per household and year up to £106.23. In particular the influence of different goods and services, different samples and different methodical approaches inter alia are tested. Three regression models had an adjusted r2 of at least 0.66 and showed high statistical significance at a 99% level. The WTP had a significant dependency on the interviewed sample, the questionnaire design, the elicitation format, the interview situation and the client. The results show that WTP of both the Scottish population and visitors to Scotland is highly dependent on framing effects. The paper confirms that the specific characteristics of the valued good are of lesser importance for the stated WTP.