Cropping systems greatly impact the productivity and resilience of agricultural ecosystems. However, we often lack an understanding of the quantitative interactions among social, economic and ecological components in each of the systems, especially with regard to crop rotation. Current production systems cannot guarantee both high profits in the short term and social and ecological benefits in the long term. This study combined statistic and economic models to evaluate the comprehensive effects of cropping systems on rice production using data collected from experimental fields between 2017 and 2018. The results showed that increasing agricultural diversity through rotations, particularly potato–rice rotation (PR), significantly increased the social, economic and ecological benefits of rice production. Yields, profits, profit margins, weighted dimensionless values of soil chemical and physical (SCP) and heavy metal (SHM) traits, benefits and externalities generated by PR and other rotations were generally higher than successive rice cropping. This suggests that agricultural diversity through rotations, particularly PR rotation, is worth implementing due to its overall benefits generated in rice production. However, due to various nutrient residues from preceding crops, fertilizer application should be rationalized to improve the resource and investment efficiency. Furthermore, we internalized the externalities (hidden ecological and social benefits/costs) generated by each of the rotation systems and proposed ways of incenting farmers to adopt crop rotation approaches for sustainable rice production.

Scientific assessment related to the externalities of the tea ecological pest management (TEPM) system that can affect socio-economic development and ecological benefits is important to the sustainable development of the tea industry. This paper used the contingent valuation method to evaluate the externalities associated with TEPM and the factors affecting its adoption by farmers through survey data collected from Anxi county, Fujian province, China. The results showed that the positive externalities, which were not internalized (embodied in price), affected the willingness of tea farmers to adopt TEPM. The willingness to accept a subsidy for adopting the TEPM system was significantly affected by the individual tea farmer’s age, education level, income, size of plantation, knowledge of human health and risk preference. The compensation threshold of externalities for TEPM was 5668.80 yuan per hectare per year. It is suggested that the government should adopt this threshold as a minimum subsidy to mitigate information asymmetry in two markets, namely ecological management technology and trading between suppliers and buyers of tea products. Finally, production stability and improved price for high quality tea resulting from healthy ecology in TEPM could enhance positive externalities. This coupled with other benefits, such as a reduction in the amount of resources spent on pesticides, could result in governmental subsidies for TEPM being gradually reduced over time.

The harmonious development of the ecological environment and the economy is extremely important to achieve regional ecological construction and sustainable development. To properly assess the status of the harmonious development of the ecosystem and the economy, this study constructed an improved ecosystem services value (ESV) and eco-economic harmony (EEH) model to analyze the coordination relationships between the ecosystem and the economy in this region, based on Landsat TM/OLI data of Anxi County in 1999, 2009, and 2019. The results were as follows. (1) Significant changes in land- use occurred in Anxi County between 1999 and 2019. While grassland, cultivated land, and water bodies decreased by 22.91%, 36.82%, and 8.18%, respectively, other land-use types expanded including construction land (206.10%), garden land (56.39%), forest land (10.37%), and unutilized land (90.43%). (2) The ESV decreased by CNY 41.02 billion during this period, with the largest contribution from forest land and the most important service function being regulating services, and mountainous townships made a great contribution to the total ESV. (3) The eco-economic system of Anxi County was at an inharmonic level. The evaluation model produced more favorable results, especially at the township scale, which is highly sensitive to economic policy. This can provide scientific evidence for inter-regional ecological compensation and sustainable development while providing reference and inspiration for similar areas around the world to carry out relevant research.

The use of ecological principles to manage plant pests has attracted renewed attention, but our knowledge related to the contributions of ecological pest management to social and natural sustainability is fragmented. In this study, we compared the performance and resilience of tea production and the economic benefits of tea ecological management (TEM) and tea conventional management (TCM). We show that TEM significantly improved tea biomass and quality, nutritional efficiency, and beneficial insects, but reduced seasonal variation. As a result, economic return increased by $8045/ha in the TEM mode compared to $6064/ha in the TCM mode. These results confirm that TEM is a promising production mode that can reconcile the conflict between the immediate and long-term service of agriculture. However, environmental improvements associated with organic pest control benefit society, and the government should provide adequate financial support to promote the production system.