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Additionality in U.S. Agricultural Conservation and Regulatory Offset Programs

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  • Claassen, Roger
  • Duquette, Eric
  • Horowitz, John
  • Kohei, Ueda

Abstract

Conservation payments lead to improvement in environmental quality only if farmers and ranchers who receive them adopt conservation practices that would not have been adopted without the payment. When a voluntary payment causes a change in practice(s) that lead(s) to improved environmental quality, these changes are “additional.” We estimate this “additionality” for a number of common conservation practices that are frequently supported by existing conservation programs. We find that the level of additionality varies by practice and that additionality is high for structural and vegetative practices while the risk of nonadditionality appears to be higher for management practices. While the risk of nonadditionality cannot be completely eliminated, it can be reduced. We discuss a number of approaches to managing nonadditionality in both conservation programs and environmental offset programs.

Suggested Citation

  • Claassen, Roger & Duquette, Eric & Horowitz, John & Kohei, Ueda, 2014. "Additionality in U.S. Agricultural Conservation and Regulatory Offset Programs," Economic Research Report 180414, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:uersrr:180414
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.180414
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    Cited by:

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    2. Claassen, Roger & Bowman, Maria & Breneman, Vince & Wade, Tara & Williams, Ryan & Fooks, Jacob & Hansen, LeRoy & Iovanna, Rich & Loesch, Chuck, 2017. "Conservation Compliance: How Farmer Incentives Are Changing in the Crop Insurance Era," Economic Research Report 261814, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    3. Pannell, David J. & Pardey, Philip G. & Hurley, Terrence M., 2020. "Private Incentives for Sustainable Agriculture: Principals and Evidence for Sustainable Agricultural Change," Working Papers 304700, University of Western Australia, School of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
    4. Pates, Nicholas J. & Hendricks, Nathan P., 2016. "Additionality in Payments for Environmental Service Contracts with Technology Diffusion," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 236066, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    5. Rees, Gwen & Stephenson, Kurt & Taylor, Daniel B., 2015. "The Impact of Transaction Costs and Differential BMP Adoption Rates on the Cost of Reducing Agricultural Nonpoint Source Pollution in Virginia," 2015 Annual Meeting, January 31-February 3, 2015, Atlanta, Georgia 196834, Southern Agricultural Economics Association.
    6. Marc N. Conte & Robert Griffin, 2019. "Private Benefits of Conservation and Procurement Auction Performance," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 73(3), pages 759-790, July.
    7. Baker, Justin S. & Latane, Annah & Proville, Jeremy & Cajka, James, 2015. "Additionality, GHG Offsets, and Avoiding Grassland Conversion in the Prairie Pothole Region," 2015 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 26-28, San Francisco, California 205802, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    8. Naveen Adusumilli & Rowell Dikitanan & Hua Wang, 2019. "Effect of Cost-Sharing Federal Programs on Adoption of Water Conservation Practices: Results from Propensity Score Matching Approach," Water Economics and Policy (WEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 6(01), pages 1-16, July.
    9. Lee, Seungyub & McCann, Laura, 2018. "Adoption of Cover Crops in Soybean Production," 2018 Annual Meeting, February 2-6, 2018, Jacksonville, Florida 266576, Southern Agricultural Economics Association.
    10. James Vercammen, 2019. "A dynamic analysis of cost‐share agri‐environmental programs," Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society/Societe canadienne d'agroeconomie, vol. 67(1), pages 15-30, March.
    11. Wade, Tara & Claassen, Roger & Wallander, Steven, 2015. "Conservation-Practice Adoption Rates Vary Widely by Crop and Region," Economic Information Bulletin 262111, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    12. Wan, Xiaolan & Howard, Gregory & Zhang, Wendong, 2022. "Enrollment Restrictions and the Adoption of Conservation Practices in the U.S. Corn Belt," 2022 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Anaheim, California 322793, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    13. Nicholas J Pates & Nathan P Hendricks, 2020. "Additionality from Payments for Environmental Services with Technology Diffusion," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 102(1), pages 281-299, January.
    14. Key, Nigel & Prager, Daniel & Burns, Christopher, 2017. "Farm Household Income Volatility: An Analysis Using Panel Data From a National Survey," Economic Research Report 256710, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    15. Stephenson, Kurt & Shabman, Leonard, 2015. "Nutrient Assimilation Services for Water Quality Credit Trading Programs," RFF Working Paper Series dp-15-33, Resources for the Future.
    16. Cheryl J. Wachenheim & John Devney, 2018. "Landowner Conservation Attitudes and Behaviors in the Prairie Pothole Region," Agribusiness & Applied Economics Report 267904, North Dakota State University, Department of Agribusiness and Applied Economics.
    17. Rosenberg, Andrew B. & Wallander, Steven, 2020. "Conservation Practice Adoption and On-field Resource Concerns," 2020 Annual Meeting, July 26-28, Kansas City, Missouri 304563, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

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    Agricultural and Food Policy; Environmental Economics and Policy;

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