IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/lauspo/v112y2022ics0264837721005317.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Putting land to work: An evaluation of the economic effects of recultivating abandoned farmland

Author

Listed:
  • Corbelle-Rico, Eduardo
  • Sánchez-Fernández, Patricio
  • López-Iglesias, Edelmiro
  • Lago-Peñas, Santiago
  • Da-Rocha, José-María

Abstract

Agricultural land abandonment is a relevant occurrence in mountainous and peripheral regions all over the world. While both positive and negative environmental consequences of this abandonment are documented (depending on the specific location and scale), in rural areas it is always linked to a reduction in production and income. To address some of these problems, the several administrative layers within the European Union (EU) have put in place public policies that focus either on the immediate causes or on the consequences. Policies aimed at promoting recultivating formerly abandoned fields have usually tried simultaneously to address both the causes (e.g., to increase farm productivity/output) and the consequences (i.e., to manage fields according to specific criteria), but the potential economic outcomes of these measures are unknown. In this paper, we estimate the effect of recultivation of abandoned farmland on the economy of a case study region in NW Spain (Galicia). We propose that this effect can be used to guide decisions on the viable expenditure levels of recultivation policy. Concerning the methodology, we relied upon geographic information systems to show the area of land suitable for recultivation is relevant: i.e. recultivation policies could result in an increase of at least 16% of current farmland. Using Standard Production Coefficients per hectare we show that the total output (at constant prices) generated by the recultivation of abandoned land would amount to 413.3 million euros/year. Calculations based on input output methods suggest that the benefits of the recultivation policies would be an increase of 1% of the total regional Gross Value Added (GVA). We show that the input-output methods underestimate the benefits of cultivation policies based on total factor productivity (TFP) improvements, which fundamentally come from the reallocation of factors among the rest of the sectors of the economy. In particular, if recultivation policies increase agricultural TFP by 26% (in order to increase the demand of land by 16%) the overall effect rises to around 3% of the total regional GVA. These results suggest that the margin for the implementation of recultivation policies before they turn unadvisable from a purely economic point of view is rather ample.

Suggested Citation

  • Corbelle-Rico, Eduardo & Sánchez-Fernández, Patricio & López-Iglesias, Edelmiro & Lago-Peñas, Santiago & Da-Rocha, José-María, 2022. "Putting land to work: An evaluation of the economic effects of recultivating abandoned farmland," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:lauspo:v:112:y:2022:i:c:s0264837721005317
    DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2021.105808
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264837721005317
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.landusepol.2021.105808?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Zewdie Habte Shikur, 2020. "Agricultural policies, agricultural production and rural households’ welfare in Ethiopia," Journal of Economic Structures, Springer;Pan-Pacific Association of Input-Output Studies (PAPAIOS), vol. 9(1), pages 1-21, December.
    2. Barry Burgan & Trevor Mules, 2001. "Reconciling Cost—Benefit and Economic Impact Assessment for Event Tourism," Tourism Economics, , vol. 7(4), pages 321-330, December.
    3. Zavalloni, Matteo & D’Alberto, Riccardo & Raggi, Meri & Viaggi, Davide, 2021. "Farmland abandonment, public goods and the CAP in a marginal area of Italy," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    4. Patrick J. Kehoe & Timothy J. Kehoe, 1994. "A primer on static applied general equilibrium models," Quarterly Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, vol. 18(Spr), pages 2-16.
    5. Grant Allan & Peter Mcgregor & Kim Swales, 2011. "The Importance of Revenue Sharing for the Local Economic Impacts of a Renewable Energy Project: A Social Accounting Matrix Approach," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(9), pages 1171-1186, March.
    6. Sil, Ângelo & Fernandes, Paulo M. & Rodrigues, Ana Paula & Alonso, Joaquim M. & Honrado, João P. & Perera, Ajith & Azevedo, João C., 2019. "Farmland abandonment decreases the fire regulation capacity and the fire protection ecosystem service in mountain landscapes," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 1-1.
    7. Soto, David & Infante-Amate, Juan & Guzmán, Gloria I. & Cid, Antonio & Aguilera, Eduardo & García, Roberto & González de Molina, Manuel, 2016. "The social metabolism of biomass in Spain, 1900–2008: From food to feed-oriented changes in the agro-ecosystems," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 130-138.
    8. Allan, G.J. & Lecca, P. & McGregor, P.G. & Swales, J.K., 2014. "The economic impacts of marine energy developments: A case study from Scotland," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 122-131.
    9. Jendrzejewski, Błażej, 2020. "Bioeconomic modelling – An application of environmentally adjusted economic accounts and the computable general equilibrium model," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    10. Piñero, Pablo & Pérez-Neira, David & Infante-Amate, Juan & Chas-Amil, María L. & Doldán-García, Xoán R., 2020. "Unequal raw material exchange between and within countries: Galicia (NW Spain) as a core-periphery economy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    11. Milczarek-Andrzejewska, Dominika & Zawalińska, Katarzyna & Czarnecki, Adam, 2018. "Land-use conflicts and the Common Agricultural Policy: Evidence from Poland," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 423-433.
    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. Chen, Qianru & Wu, Manyu & Xie, Hualin, 2023. "Tillage conditions or social economy? An analysis of the dominant driving force of farmland marginalization from the farmers' perspective," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    2. Qianru Chen, 2022. "Analyzing Farmers’ Cultivated-Land-Abandonment Behavior: Integrating the Theory of Planned Behavior and a Structural Equation Model," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-17, October.
    3. Bethwell Moyo & Khuliso Emmanuel Ravhuhali, 2022. "Abandoned Croplands: Drivers and Secondary Succession Trajectories under Livestock Grazing in Communal Areas of South Africa," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-14, May.
    4. Hu, Zhenhua & Song, Gaohui & Hu, Ziyue & Fang, Jiaqi, 2024. "An improved dynamic game analysis of farmers, enterprises and rural collective economic organizations based on idle land reuse policy," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    5. Hua Li & Dan Su & Yu Cao & Jiayi Wang & Yu Cao, 2022. "Optimizing the Compensation Standard of Cultivated Land Protection Based on Ecosystem Services in the Hangzhou Bay Area, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-18, February.

    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. Allan, Grant & Comerford, David & Connolly, Kevin & McGregor, Peter & Ross, Andrew G., 2020. "The economic and environmental impacts of UK offshore wind development: The importance of local content," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    2. Dalton, Gordon & Allan, Grant & Beaumont, Nicola & Georgakaki, Aliki & Hacking, Nick & Hooper, Tara & Kerr, Sandy & O’Hagan, Anne Marie & Reilly, Kieran & Ricci, Pierpaolo & Sheng, Wanan & Stallard, T, 2015. "Economic and socio-economic assessment methods for ocean renewable energy: Public and private perspectives," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 850-878.
    3. Chen, Qianru & Wu, Manyu & Xie, Hualin, 2023. "Tillage conditions or social economy? An analysis of the dominant driving force of farmland marginalization from the farmers' perspective," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    4. Jale Amanuel Dufera & Tewodros Addisu Yate & Tadesse Tujuba Kenea, 2023. "Spatiotemporal analysis of drought in Oromia regional state of Ethiopia over the period 1989 to 2019," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 117(2), pages 1569-1609, June.
    5. Qu, Yang & Hooper, Tara & Austen, Melanie C. & Papathanasopoulou, Eleni & Huang, Junling & Yan, Xiaoyu, 2023. "Development of a computable general equilibrium model based on integrated macroeconomic framework for ocean multi-use between offshore wind farms and fishing activities in Scotland," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 332(C).
    6. Mónica de Castro-Pardo & Fernando Pérez-Rodríguez & José María Martín-Martín & João C. Azevedo, 2019. "Planning for Democracy in Protected Rural Areas: Application of a Voting Method in a Spanish-Portuguese Reserve," Land, MDPI, vol. 8(10), pages 1-17, October.
    7. Usman Alhassan & Emmanuel Umoru Haruna, 2024. "Rural farmers’ perceptions of and adaptations to climate change in Sub-Saharan Africa: Does climate-smart agriculture (CSA) matter in Nigeria and Ethiopia?," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 26(3), pages 613-652, July.
    8. Pizer, William A. & Burtraw, Dallas & Harrington, Winston & Newell, Richard G. & Sanchirico, James N., 2005. "Modeling Economywide versus Sectoral Climate Policies Using Combined Aggregate-Sectoral Models," Discussion Papers 10502, Resources for the Future.
    9. Tunç, Gül İpek & Akbostancı, Elif & Türüt-Aşık, Serap, 2022. "Ecological unequal exchange between Turkey and the European Union: An assessment from value added perspective," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    10. Infante-Amate, Juan & Aguilera, Eduardo & de Molina, Manuel González, 2018. "Energy transition in Agri-food systems. Structural change, drivers and policy implications (Spain, 1960–2010)," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 570-579.
    11. Kristinn Hermannsson & Katerina Lisenkova & Peter McGregor & Kim Swales, 2010. "The Expenditure Impacts of London-based Individual Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and their Students on the Economy of England: Homogeneity or Heterogeneity?," Working Papers 1030, University of Strathclyde Business School, Department of Economics.
    12. Shinichi Kitano, 2021. "Estimation of Determinants of Farmland Abandonment and Its Data Problems," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-17, June.
    13. repec:lic:licosd:8900 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. repec:ags:ijag24:345027 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Zewdie Habte Shikur, 2023. "Competitive agricultural input markets in Ethiopia: Theoretical promises versus reality," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(6), pages 1276-1298, August.
    16. Hermannsson, Kristinn & Lisenkova, Katerina & McGregor, Peter G & Swales, J Kim, 2010. "The Expenditure Impacts of Individual Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and their Students on the Welsh Economy: Homogeneity or Heterogeneity?," SIRE Discussion Papers 2010-88, Scottish Institute for Research in Economics (SIRE).
    17. Error, Marta, 2019. "Management of agricultural land in Poland in 2000-2018," Village and Agriculture (Wieś i Rolnictwo), Polish Academy of Sciences (IRWiR PAN), Institute of Rural and Agricultural Development, vol. 185(4), November.
    18. Zeyringer, Marianne & Fais, Birgit & Keppo, Ilkka & Price, James, 2018. "The potential of marine energy technologies in the UK – Evaluation from a systems perspective," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 1281-1293.
    19. Philip B. Whyman, 2018. "The local economic impact of shale gas extraction," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(2), pages 184-196, February.
    20. Samuel Draycott & Iwona Szadkowska & Marta Silva & David M Ingram, 2018. "Assessing the Macro-Economic Benefit of Installing a Farm of Oscillating Water Columns in Scotland and Portugal," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-20, October.
    21. Sadni Jallab, Mustapha & Abdelmalki, Lahsen, 2007. "The Free Trade Agreement Between the United States and Morocco: The Importance of a Gradual and Assymetric Agreement," Journal of Economic Integration, Center for Economic Integration, Sejong University, vol. 22, pages 852-887.
    22. Martin Thomas Falk & Markku Vieru, 2021. "Short-term hotel room price effects of sporting events," Tourism Economics, , vol. 27(3), pages 569-588, May.

    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:eee:lauspo:v:112:y:2022:i:c:s0264837721005317. 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: Joice Jiang (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/land-use-policy .

    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.