IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/iaae18/277103.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Assessing the importance of soil testing in fertilizer use intensity: an econometric analysis of phosphorus fertilizer allocation in dairy farm systems

Author

Listed:
  • Micha, E.
  • Tsakiridis, A.
  • Ragkos, A.

Abstract

As global population rises there is added pressure on agricultural systems to intensify. On the other hand International organizations call their members to commit to environmental protection, including water quality. In Europe agriculture is a major water pollutant, with Phosphorus (P) considered to be contributing highly to water quality degradation. Hence, controlling phosphorus fertilizer use should be a priority. As farmers are responsible for the amount of phosphorus fertilization on their farm, they are expected to be aware of their soil P status. Farmers are advised to soil test their farms before they allocate P fertilizers, based on the assumption that soil test result will assist them in making informed decisions, and lately policy design discussions mention inclusion of soil testing in the agricultural policies regulations. To ensure the correctness of this decision a good understanding of the relation between soil testing and P fertilizer allocation is required. This paper examines dairy farm systems in Ireland, where farmers are strongly encouraged to soil test their farms regularly. National data were used in a censored tobit model to investigate the relation between a farmer s decision to soil test and Phosphorus fertilizer use intensity, among other factors. Results indicate a negative relationship suggesting that soil testing leads to reduced P fertilizer use. Acknowledgement : The authors would like to thank the Teagasc Agricultural Economics and Farm Surveys department for the data, as well as, Dr. A. Lymberopoulos and Dr. D. Chatziplis for their invaluable help.

Suggested Citation

  • Micha, E. & Tsakiridis, A. & Ragkos, A., 2018. "Assessing the importance of soil testing in fertilizer use intensity: an econometric analysis of phosphorus fertilizer allocation in dairy farm systems," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277103, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
  • Handle: RePEc:ags:iaae18:277103
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.277103
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/277103/files/954.pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.277103?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Läpple, Doris & Kelley, Hugh, 2013. "Understanding the uptake of organic farming: Accounting for heterogeneities among Irish farmers," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 11-19.
    2. Christina Gladwin, 1989. "Indigenous knowledge systems, the cognitive revolution, and agricultural decision making," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 6(3), pages 32-41, June.
    3. Mark A. Sutton & Oene Oenema & Jan Willem Erisman & Adrian Leip & Hans van Grinsven & Wilfried Winiwarter, 2011. "Too much of a good thing," Nature, Nature, vol. 472(7342), pages 159-161, April.
    4. Stephen O'Neill & Kevin Hanrahan, 2012. "Decoupling of agricultural support payments: the impact on land market participation decisions," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 39(4), pages 639-659, September.
    5. Takashi Yamano & Keijiro Otsuka & Frank Place (ed.), 2011. "Emerging Development of Agriculture in East Africa," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-94-007-1201-0, October.
    6. McDonald, John F & Moffitt, Robert A, 1980. "The Uses of Tobit Analysis," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 62(2), pages 318-321, May.
    7. Binfield, Julian C.R. & Donnellan, Trevor & Hanrahan, Kevin F., 2008. "An Examination of Milk Quota expansion at EU member State Level with specific emphasis on Ireland," 107th Seminar, January 30-February 1, 2008, Sevilla, Spain 6467, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    8. Heckenmüller, Markus & Narita, Daiju & Klepper, Gernot, 2014. "Global availability of phosphorus and its implications for global food supply: An economic overview," Kiel Working Papers 1897, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    9. Breen, James P. & Clancy, Daragh & Donnellan, Trevor & Hanrahan, Kevin F., 2012. "Estimating the Elasticity of Demand and the Production Response for Nitrogen Fertiliser on Irish Farms," 86th Annual Conference, April 16-18, 2012, Warwick University, Coventry, UK 134965, Agricultural Economics Society.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Micha, Evgenia & Roberts, William & O’ Sullivan, Lilian & O’ Connell, Kay & Daly, Karen, 2020. "Examining the policy-practice gap: The divergence between regulation and reality in organic fertiliser allocation in pasture based systems," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bernd Süssmuth, 2012. "The Econometric Analysis of Willingness to Pay for Intangibles with Experience Good Character," Chapters, in: Wolfgang Maennig & Andrew Zimbalist (ed.), International Handbook on the Economics of Mega Sporting Events, chapter 14, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    2. Alston Lee J. & Mueller Bernardo, 2018. "Priests, Conflicts and Property Rights: the Impacts on Tenancy and Land Use in Brazil," Man and the Economy, De Gruyter, vol. 5(1), pages 1-26, June.
    3. Insik Min & Jong‐Ho Kim, 2003. "Modeling Credit Card Borrowing: A Comparison of Type I and Type II Tobit Approaches," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 70(1), pages 128-143, July.
    4. Ambec, Stefan & Esposito, Federico & Pacelli, Antonia, 2024. "The economics of carbon leakage mitigation policies," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    5. Thomas Bauer & Mathias Sinning, 2011. "The savings behavior of temporary and permanent migrants in Germany," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 24(2), pages 421-449, April.
    6. Sheahan, Megan & Black, Roy & Jayne, T.S., 2013. "Are Kenyan farmers under-utilizing fertilizer? Implications for input intensification strategies and research," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 39-52.
    7. Kumar, Nagesh & Saqib, Mohammed, 1996. "Firm size, opportunities for adaptation and in-house R & D activity in developing countries: the case of Indian manufacturing," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 25(5), pages 713-722, August.
    8. Sheahan, Megan & Black, Roy & Jayne, Thomas S., 2012. "Are Farmers Under-Utilizing Fertilizer? Evidence from Kenya," 2012 Conference, August 18-24, 2012, Foz do Iguacu, Brazil 126739, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    9. Cox, Thomas L. & Briggs, Hugh, 1989. "Heteroscedastic Tobit Models: The Household Demand for Fresh Potatoes Revisited," Staff Papers 200482, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics.
    10. Yen H. T. Nguyen & Tuyen Q. Tran & Dung T. Hoang & Thu M. T. Tran & Trung T. Nguyen, 2023. "Land quality, income, and poverty among rural households in the North Central Region, Vietnam," Poverty & Public Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(2), pages 150-172, June.
    11. Sanae Tashiro, 2009. "Differences in Food Preparation by Race and Ethnicity: Evidence from the American Time Use Survey," The Review of Black Political Economy, Springer;National Economic Association, vol. 36(3), pages 161-180, December.
    12. Maria Luisa Mancusi & Andrea Vezzulli & Serena Frazzoni & Zeno Rotondi & Maurizio Sobrero, 2018. "Export and Innovation in Small and Medium Enterprises: The Role of Concentrated Bank Borrowing," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 85(337), pages 177-204, January.
    13. Seth W. Norton, 2003. "Economic Institutions and Human Well-Being: A Cross-National Analysis," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 29(1), pages 23-40, Winter.
    14. Saez, Maria Del Carmen Almansa & Calatrava-Requena, Javier, 2002. "Valuing Externalities of Watershed Restoration and Erosion Control Projects in Mediterranean Basins: A Comparative Analysis of the Contingent Valuation and Replacement Cost Methods," 2002 International Congress, August 28-31, 2002, Zaragoza, Spain 24847, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    15. Torbern Anderson & Sumner J. La Croix, 1989. "Minority Pitchers in Major League Baseball: Is There Discrimination by Fans?," Working Papers 198913, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Economics.
    16. Bai, Junfei & Wahl, Thomas I. & McCluskey, Jill J., 2008. "Fluid milk consumption in urban Qingdao, China," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 52(2), pages 1-15.
    17. de Lauwere, Carolien & Slegers, Monique & Meeusen, Marieke, 2022. "The influence of behavioural factors and external conditions on Dutch farmers’ decision making in the transition towards circular agriculture," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    18. Anil Kumar, 2012. "Nonparametric estimation of the impact of taxes on female labor supply," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(3), pages 415-439, April.
    19. Kataki, Sampriti & West, Helen & Clarke, Michèle & Baruah, D.C., 2016. "Phosphorus recovery as struvite: Recent concerns for use of seed, alternative Mg source, nitrogen conservation and fertilizer potential," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 142-156.
    20. Bernd Süssmuth & Malte Heyne & Wolfgang Maennig, 2010. "Induced Civic Pride and Integration," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 72(2), pages 202-220, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Crop Production/Industries;

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:iaae18:277103. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iaaeeea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.