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Farm-Level Evaluation of Alternative Policy Approaches to Reduce Nitrate Leaching from Midwest Agriculture

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 September 2016

Scott M. Swinton  and
David S. Clark
Scott M. Swinton
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics, Michigan State University
David S. Clark
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics, Michigan State University
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Abstract

Policies to reduce nitrate leaching are evaluated using a mixed integer linear programming model of a representative Michigan cash grain farm. At spring 1993 prices, elimination of the current deficiency payment program is found to be more efficient at reducing leaching than a nitrogen input tax, a tax credit on biologically fixed nitrogen, a rotation payment, or obligatory use of the Integrated Farm Management Program Option (IFMPO). However, elimination of the deficiency payment program would significantly reduce farm income. Modeling risk management and nitrate leaching dynamics are useful extensions of this research, as is estimating the benefits from averting nitrate leaching.

Type
Agricultural, Resource, and Environmental Policies in the 1990s
Information
Agricultural and Resource Economics Review , Volume 23 , Issue 1 , April 1994 , pp. 66 - 74
Copyright
Copyright © 1994 Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association 

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