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Environmental conservation in agriculture: Land retirement vs. changing practices on working land

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  • Feng, Hongli
  • Kurkalova, Lyubov A.
  • Kling, Catherine
  • Gassman, Philip

Abstract

The study develops a conceptual framework for analyzing the allocation of conservation funds via selectively offering incentive payments to farmers for enrolling in one of two mutually exclusive agricultural conservation programs: retiring land from production or changing farming practices on land that remains in production. We investigate how the existence of a pre-fixed budget allocation between the programs affects the amounts of environmental benefits obtainable under alternative policy implementation schemes. The framework is applied to a major agricultural production region using field-scale data in conjunction with empirical models of land retirement and conservation tillage adoption, and a biophysical process simulation model for an array of environmental benefits.

Suggested Citation

  • Feng, Hongli & Kurkalova, Lyubov A. & Kling, Catherine & Gassman, Philip, 2006. "Environmental conservation in agriculture: Land retirement vs. changing practices on working land," ISU General Staff Papers 200601010800001383, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:isu:genstf:200601010800001383
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    2. Peter Bardsley & Ingrid Burfurd, 2008. "Contract Design for Biodiversity Procurement," Department of Economics - Working Papers Series 1031, The University of Melbourne.
    3. Wallander, Steven & Bowman, Maria & Beeson, Peter & Claassen, Roger, 2017. "Farmers and Habits: The Challenge of Identifying the Sources of Persistence in Tillage Decisions," 2018 Allied Social Sciences Association (ASSA) Annual Meeting, January 5-7, 2018, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 266307, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    4. Barraquand, F. & Martinet, V., 2011. "Biological conservation in dynamic agricultural landscapes: Effectiveness of public policies and trade-offs with agricultural production," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(5), pages 910-920, March.
    5. Bostian, AJ & Bostian, Moriah & Laukkanen, Marita & Simola, Antti Mikko, 2017. "Assessing The Impact Of Agri-Environmental Management Practices On Farm Productivity When Adoption Is Endogenous," 2017 International Congress, August 28-September 1, 2017, Parma, Italy 261154, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    6. Ramtin Joolaie & Ahmad Abedi Sarvestani & Fatemeh Taheri & Steven Van Passel & Hossein Azadi, 2017. "Sustainable cropping pattern in North Iran: application of fuzzy goal programming," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 19(6), pages 2199-2216, December.
    7. Kathleen Segerson & Catherine L. Kling & Nancy E. Bockstael, 2022. "Contributions of women at the intersection of agricultural economics and environmental and natural resource economics," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 44(1), pages 38-53, March.
    8. AJ A. Bostian & Moriah B. Bostian & Marita Laukkanen & Antti Simola, 2020. "Assessing the productivity consequences of agri-environmental practices when adoption is endogenous," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 53(2), pages 141-162, April.
    9. Rabotyagov, Sergey S. & Valcu, Adriana M. & Campbell, Todd D. & Jha, Manoj K. & Gassman, Philip W. & Kling, Catherine L., 2012. "Using a coupled simulation-optimization approach to design cost-effective reverse auctions for watershed nutrient reductions," 2012 Annual Meeting, August 12-14, 2012, Seattle, Washington 124656, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    10. Liu, M. & Huang, G.H. & Liao, R.F. & Li, Y.P. & Xie, Y.L., 2013. "Fuzzy two-stage non-point source pollution management model for agricultural systems—A case study for the Lake Tai Basin, China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 27-41.
    11. Pannell, David J. & Gibson, Fiona L., 2014. "Testing metrics to prioritise environmental projects," Working Papers 163211, University of Western Australia, School of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
    12. Sergey S. Rabotyagov, 2010. "Ecosystem Services under Benefit and Cost Uncertainty: An Application to Soil Carbon Sequestration," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 86(4), pages 668-686.
    13. Cloé Garnache, 2015. "Fish, Farmers, and Floods: Coordinating Institutions to Optimize the Provision of Ecosystem Services," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 2(3), pages 367-399.
    14. Ruiqing Miao & Hongli Feng & David A. Hennessy & Xiaodong Du, 2014. "Assessing Cost-Effectiveness of the Conservation Reserve Program and its Interaction with Crop Insurance Subsidies," Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) Publications 14-wp553, Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) at Iowa State University.
    15. Li, Man & Wu, JunJie & Deng, Xiangzheng, 2009. "Empirical Analysis of Land-use Change and Soil Carbon Sequestration Cost in China," 2009 Annual Meeting, July 26-28, 2009, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 49568, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    16. Claytor, Hannah S. & Clark, Christopher D. & Lambert, Dayton M. & Jensen, Kimberly L., 2018. "Cattle producer willingness to afforest pastureland and sequester carbon," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 43-54.
    17. Xie, Yu & Chen, Zhen & Boadu, Francis & Tang, HongJuan, 2022. "How does digital transformation affect agricultural enterprises’ pro-land behavior: The role of environmental protection cognition and cross-border search," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    18. Hung-Hao Chang, 2017. "Does A Social Welfare Program Affect Farmland Use? Empirical Evidence Using Administrative Data in Taiwan," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 39(3), pages 441-457.
    19. Valcu, Adriana Mihaela, 2013. "Agricultural nonpoint source pollution and water quality trading: empirical analysis under imperfect cost information and measurement error," ISU General Staff Papers 201301010800004451, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.

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