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Rural development programs’ impact on environment: An ex-post evaluation of organic faming

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  • Cisilino, Federica
  • Bodini, Antonella
  • Zanoli, Agostina

Abstract

Increasing attention on the relationship between agriculture and the environment has led governments to place new emphasis on Agri-environmental policies and organic agriculture to support farmers in developing innovative and sustainable management strategies. This paper aims at evaluating the environmental and economic effects of Organic Farming subsidies under the Rural Development Policy 2007–2013 programming period. To estimate policy impacts, a counterfactual approach has been carried out on a sample of farms located in one of the most important Italian regions as far as Organic Farming is concerned. A panel sample of FADN farms has been analyzed for years 2013–2015. The application of a non-parametric matching model and the Difference-in-Difference estimator are presented and the Average Treatment Effect on Treated is shown for some specific variables as the level of nitrogen and phosphorus used per hectare. The study gives evidence that environmental performance of Organic Farms is statistically higher than conventional ones, while the income indicators considered are not statistically different between the two groups.

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  • Cisilino, Federica & Bodini, Antonella & Zanoli, Agostina, 2019. "Rural development programs’ impact on environment: An ex-post evaluation of organic faming," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 454-462.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:lauspo:v:85:y:2019:i:c:p:454-462
    DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2019.04.016
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    2. Meike Weltin & Silke Hüttel, 2023. "Sustainable Intensification Farming as an Enabler for Farm Eco-Efficiency?," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 84(1), pages 315-342, January.
    3. Rebecca Buttinelli & Raffaele Cortignani & Gabriele Dono, 2021. "Financial sustainability in Italian Organic Farms: An analysis of the FADN Sample," Economia agro-alimentare, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 23(3), pages 1-32.
    4. Shuo Ding, 2023. "Vulnerability to Poverty in Chinese Households with Elderly Members: 2013–2018," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-30, March.
    5. Uehleke, Reinhard & Petrick, Martin & Hüttel, Silke, 2022. "Evaluations of agri-environmental schemes based on observational farm data: The importance of covariate selection," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    6. Federica Cisilino & Antonio Giampaolo & Francesco Licciardo & Matteo Orlando & Serena Tarangioli, 2023. "The Tuscany Integrated Supply Chain Projects 2014–2022: A New Path to Support the Agri-Food Industry," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-15, June.
    7. Casolani, Nicola & Nissi, Eugenia & Giampaolo, Antonio & Liberatore, Lolita, 2021. "Evaluating the effects of European support measures for Italian organic farms," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    8. Zhang, Yue & Wang, Wenxiong & Feng, Yanfei, 2022. "Impact of different models of rural land consolidation on rural household poverty vulnerability," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    9. Federica Cisilino & Greta Zilli & Gabriele Zanuttig, 2021. "FADN data to support policymaking: The potential of an additional survey," Economia agro-alimentare, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 23(3), pages 1-22.
    10. Pan, Xiongfeng & Li, Mengna & Wang, Mengyang & Zong, Tianjiao & Song, Malin, 2020. "The effects of a Smart Logistics policy on carbon emissions in China: A difference-in-differences analysis," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    11. Blaće, Ante & Čuka, Anica & Šiljković, Željka, 2020. "How dynamic is organic? Spatial analysis of adopting new trends in Croatian agriculture," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).

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