Abstract:

【Objective】Food production are bound to affect the ecological environment. In this paper, the ecological costs of food production were investigated in the alluvial region of the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain. 【Method】Based on the theory of soil erosion and water pollution, using economic and ecological methods to estimate the ecological costs of food production. The grey relationship matrix analysis was used to analyze various factors affecting the ecological costs of food production. 【Result】Ecological damage due to grain production in this region was equivalent to 2% of the total agricultural output in 2008. Ecological costs in this region reached 1.51 yuan/kg for wheat and 1.12 yuan/kg for maize in 2008. However, unit sales were 1.62 yuan/kg for wheat and 1.38 yuan/kg for maize. The combination of high production costs and low income affected sustainable development in this region. Yields, acreage, agriculture mechanical costs and labor costs were important factors affecting the ecological costs of food production, chemical fertilizer costs, organic fertilizer costs, pesticides costs and irrigation costs had less impact on the ecological costs of food production. Ecological costs of food production in this region declined as the amount of cultivated land per family increased. 【Conclusion】Under current production conditions, moderate improvement of the level of science and technology inputs and expansion of the scale of family agricultural production, then the ecological costs of food production would be reduced. These changes would be conducive to achieving sustainable development of the ecological economy of this region.

Key words: food production, ecological costs, Huang-Huai-Hai Plain