This briefing paper reviews the role that the proposed Conservation Security Act plays in improving US competitiveness in global markets for organic agriculture products. The European Union provides direct payments to organic farmers through an agri-environmental program that is considered a...

Organic farmers are dependent on alternative, biology-based insect control methods and are innovative in their on-farm experimentation with new strategies. By understanding the factors that influence the insect management portfolio chosen by organic farmers, research and education programs to...

Farmer's willingness to voluntarily reduce insecticide use is not considered when regulatory approaches to environmental protection are proposed. Regulations that require behavior that would voluntarily be undertaken are excessive and economically inefficient. Using survey data from a contingent...

An indirect utility model is employed for measuring farmers willingness to voluntarily accept yield losses for a reduction in environmental risk by decreasing pesticide use. Results support the hypothesis that farmers have self-described risk perceptions that enable them to make assessments of...

Sustainability assessment is fundamental to improving the long-term viability of agricultural systems. A variety of assessment tools have been developed for the practitioner to evaluate sustainability at multiple levels, from field to farm. This report is a compilation of annotated references on...

Given that existing food eco-labels are still not well defined in consumers' experience, there is potential for new labels to generate more confusion. Consumers incur fixed costs to learn about a label's meaning. Market shares for existing certifications may be eroded by perceptions that new...

According to Article 3.4 of the Kyoto Protocol, agricultural soil could be used as a sink for carbon sequestration. Soil sequestration of carbon provides dual benefits: an increase in soil productivity and a reduction in atmospheric carbon concentration. The gain in soil productivity is a slow...

According to Article 3.4 of the Kyoto Protocol, agricultural soil could be used as a sink for carbon sequestration and hence it may provide an alternative venue to sequester the greenhouse gas emission. US plans to reduce the carbon emission amount by seven percent below the 1990 level within...

Individuals exposed to odors from livestock facilities do not report annoyance uniformly. The reaction to a detectable odor depends on perceptions of the odor and its source which are mediated by odor attributes and personal factors. Correlations among these factors were tested in a rural...