Optimal Profits Under Environmental Constraints: Implications of Nutrient and Sediment Standards (original) (raw)
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Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, 2003
We investigated the environmental impacts of alternative cultural practices within a watershed under different water quality standards. We used experimental data on nutrient runoff to determine the optimal amount of broiler litter application in hay production in Louisiana. To compensate for the lack of experimental data, we used biophysical simulation models to find the optimal combination of agricultural best-management practices in a watershed in Mississippi. The results indicated that stricter environmental standards lower total profit potential and litter utilization.
Economic Analysis of Nutrient Management Practices for Water Quality Protection
The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of alternative cropping systems on farm net returns, and nitrate-N and sediment yields in Thomas Brook Watershed (TBW). The study involved integrated bio-physical and economic optimization modelling. Crop yield and nitrate-N pollution response functions were estimated and then used in trade-off analysis between farm returns and environmental quality improvement. Five crop rotation systems were evaluated for seven fertilizer levels under conventional tillage (CT) and no-till systems (NT). Nitrate-N leached, as well as estimated maximum economic rate of N (MERN) fertilizer level and marginal abatement costs depended on crop type, rotation system, and tillage type. The most cost effective cropping systems that met restrictions on Health Canada maximum limit on nitrate-N in water included corn-corn-corn-alfalfa-alfalfa under NT for corn-based cropping systems, potato-winter wheat-carrot-corn under CT for vegetable horticulture-ba...