Decision‐makers are keen to learn which policy instruments are most effective at producing forest conservation outcomes. Using data from a patchwork of programs designed to preserve the overwintering habitat of the Monarch butterfly in central Mexico, we compare the effectiveness of three...

Payment programs that incentivize conservation practices on farms produce additional environmental gains only if farmers receiving payments adopt practices that they would not have adopted without the payment. For some conservation practices, the “additionality” of payments may be low if...

Perennial crop production is inherently dynamic due to several salient physical characteristics including an establishment period of several years with low or no yields, long lives in commercial production (40 years or more), and path-dependence of yields on input use and other exogenous...

The paper estimates the impacts of risk reducing government programs on the use of conservation practices in agriculture. Specifically, conservation tillage or no-till agriculture can be used to reduce risk from weather shocks while subsidized crop insurance and disaster payments also reduce...

Conventional analytical methods used to determine the most economical farmer-based harvest system and corresponding nutrient management strategy for producing switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) feedstock do not consider agronomic and subsequent economic problems associated with soil nutrient...

Animal waste from concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) is a significant contributor to the nitrate contamination of groundwater. Some manures also contain heavy metals and salts that may build up either in cropland or groundwater. To find cost-effective policies for pollution reduction...

The levels of cellulosic biofuel feedstocks that are being produced continue to fall short of standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Technical feasibility studies have been conducted to determine if the levels of production the EPA has mandated are obtainable; and breakeven...