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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. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. 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.
    5. 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.
    6. 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.
    7. 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.
    8. 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).
    9. Maxence Gérard & Stéphane De Cara & Guy Meunier, 2025. "Mitigating greenhouse gas emissions from the cattle sector: Land‐use regulation as an alternative to emissions pricing," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 107(1), pages 312-345, January.
    10. 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.
    11. Peter Bardsley & Ingrid Burfurd, 2008. "Contract Design for Biodiversity Procurement," Department of Economics - Working Papers Series 1031, The University of Melbourne.
    12. 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.
    13. 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.
    14. 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.
    15. 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.
    16. 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.
    17. 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.
    18. 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.
    19. 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.
    20. Kim, Youngho & Lichtenberg, Erik & Newburn, David A., 2024. "Payments and penalties in ecosystem services programs," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    21. 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.

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