In 2002, the German agricultural sector contributed 8.7 % of the total national green house gas emissions. The main sources were animal digestion, manure management and agricultural soils. From the technical point of view, the manure management has the biggest potential of green house gas...

Certification schemes for forest products are understood by many as a way to promote sustainable resource use when it is impossible to rely on direct enforcement of process standards. Based on the concept of ‘Self-Enforcing Contracts’, this study develops a market model that simulates the...

The objective of the paper is to show the potential of interdisciplinary model networks consisting of agricultural economic and natural science models performing integrated impact assessments of agri-environmental policies. The potentials are exemplified using a coupling of the agricultural...

Under the condition of significant changes in the framework of EU Agricultural Policy Agro-Environmental Programmes are evaluated in this paper. The MEKA-Programme of Baden-Württemberg and the KULAP-Programme of Brandenburg, both measures under the EU-Regulation VO (EWG) 2078/92 of 1992, are...

Political procedures aimed at solving conflicts of agriculture and the environment are becoming increasingly important. In contrast to previous research, property rights solutions are regarded as inappropriate to solve the conflicts between farming and nature conservation due to transaction...

Both WTO and the EU use a “Rule of additional costs†(RAC) to restrict payments for ecological services in agriculture in order to prevent trade distortions. We assess this rule in the light of modern economic theory. It is shown that the RAC is efficient, if conventional agriculture...

Agri-environmental programs offering uniform payments to farmers achieved only low participation ratios in some regions whereas, in other regions, windfall profits arose. Auctions leading to individual payments equal to farmers’ bids could solve this problem. Simulations showing...

We develop a agricultural model assuming that conventional production is causing environmental externalities while more benign alternative production methods generate non-market amenity benefits and obtain a price premium in the marketplace. We analyze policies targeting external benefits and...