Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 May 2017
Agricultural development in both the United States and Australia has led to suboptimal levels of environmental degradation. While both countries face similar forms of agricultural environmental degradation, the different resource endowment and population distributions have resulted in a different incidence of the costs of these problems. Increasing demand for environmental services and better information on off-site damages have led to increasing demand for reform of agricultural, rural development, and environmental programs to eliminate biases against practices viewed as more environmentally compatible.
The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the policies or the views of the U.S. Department of Agriculture or the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics. The authors would like to thank C. Edwin Young. Stephanie Mercier. Harold Stults, and the anonymous referees for helpful comments.