Farmers'Attitudes Toward Government Involvement in Preventing Agricultural Nonpoint Source Water Pollution (original) (raw)
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INDUCING FARMER PARTICIPATION IN A WATERSHED LEVEL PROGRAM TO IMPROVE WATER QUALITY
This paper describes part of a field experiment involving performance-based economic incentives to improve water quality that is being conducted on a small 3,000 ha watershed in Hardy County, West Virginia. It serves as a companion paper to Maille and Collins (2007) which describes development of the economic incentives. To effectively address agricultural non-point pollution in this experiment, farmers need to utilize a team approach based on voluntary participation, group interaction and decision-making. In this paper, the logic of a team approach is explained and farmer recruitment strategy is discussed. Elements of successful recruitment include having sufficient water quality data to provide evidence of a problem, conducting informational meetings with immediate benefits to attendees, creating partnerships with local organizations and elites to build trust among farmers, assisting group decision making with an advisory committee, and development of clearly written contractual p...
Journal of Soil and Water Conservation, 2021
Agricultural nonpoint source pollution has been identified as a major cause of water quality impairments. Utilizing survey data from the Northern Great Plains, this paper provides a better understanding of farmers' perceptions on water quality issues in their local areas. Excessive algal bloom and aquatic plants were among producers' top water quality concerns in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska. Fertilizers/pesticides were perceived as either not a problem (28.7%) or a slight problem (43.7%) when it comes to the water pollution sources. While only 17.2% of the respondents indicated agreement upon paying taxes to help protect the local water quality, 43.5% agreed to implement conservation practices (CPs) at some cost, and 70.1% agreed to implement CPs at no direct cost to farmers to improve water quality. This paper examined the factors associated with the adoption of cover crops and buffer strips. We found that producers' adoption decisions of cover crops largely hinged on farm characteristics and management variables, such as land ownership, farm size, livestock ownership, and adoption status of other farm management practices, while water quality information and producer perceptions affected the adoption decisions of both cover crops and buffer strips. To further promote CP adoption and reduce water pollution, our results highlighted the importance of both monetary incentives and outreach efforts that disseminate information on water pollution status and pollution sources, as well as technical support on CPs suitable for the farm.
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Town Planning Review, 2017
Water is a vital natural resource; human and ecosystem health are dependent on a plentiful supply of freshwater that is free from contaminants. However, water quality is threatened in many developed countries from both point-and non-point-source pollution. While point-source pollution can be regulated with emission-based standards, it is difficult to effectively monitor and regulate pollution coming from diffuse sources. Diffuse non-point-source pollution comes from water run-off moving over and through the soil profile, carrying natural and man-made pollutants into ground, surface and marine waters. Intensive agricultural land use is widely accepted as a significant non-point-source of nutrient, pesticide, soil sediment and other pollutants in the water systems of most OECD countries . The impact of agriculture on water quality is generally stable or deteriorating, and policymakers across the OECD are looking for effective instruments to improve water quality . Regulating to control non-point-source agricultural pollution is complicated by the complex nature of pollution, the number of stakeholders, and the potential effects of policy change for all stakeholders. Policy changes can have considerable impact on the productivity and value of affected businesses. The challenge for policymakers is to find an equitable means of regulation that can be administered effectively, to improve water quality, while enabling farming businesses to remain viable.
Chapter 5 Farmers as Producers of Clean Water: A Field Experiment
Will there be enough clean water? That is a question that bedevils societies everywhere. In developing countries, both point and nonpoint sources of pollution represent important threats to water quality (Duda, 1993; Tonderski, 1996). Conversely, in developed countries like the US, point sources have been sufficiently regulated such that significant progress has been made in dealing with this source of water pollution (Hetling et al. 2003; Murchison 2005). Nonpoint source pollution (NPSP) related to agriculture is now considered one of the largest remaining water quality problems in the US (See US EPA 1998; Ribaudo et al. 2001; Ribaudo 2003; Peterson and Boisvert 2004; Poe et al. 2004; Millock and Salanie 2005). According to the US EPA (1998), agriculture impacts 48% of impaired rivers and 41% of impaired lakes. These water quality problems have persisted despite billions of dollars spent on voluntary conservation cost-share programs by the federal government over the last two decad...