Scouting is the most widely used integrated pest management technique adopted by U.S. growers. This study applies an implicit demand formulation of the Lichtenberg-Zilberman damage abatement model to data from a survey of Maryland field crop growers to examine differences in pesticide demand...

It has been argued that so-called “cosmetic” standards for produce quality increase pesticide use on fruits and vegetables. This paper shows that stricter quality standards unambiguously increase farm-level pesticide demand only when produce is sold in mixed lots with tolerances for...

Criticisms of the Green Revolution have focused on environmental and human health problems associated with pesticides. Pesticides may also have adverse effects on wild fish and other aquatic animals in rice paddies that supply an additional source of food and income for some farm households and...

Potential earnings from permits sales may provide an incentive for farmers to accept water quality regulation. We derive optimal adjustments of point/nonpoint effluent trading ratios for heterogeneity in marginal environmental damage and degradation/retention of the pollutant across locations in...

We develop the dual implications of the von Liebig-Paris nutrient-response technology and parametric and nonparametric tests for this technology. We discuss the nonparametric approach using two different representations corresponding to optimistic and pessimistic nonparametric approximations of...

It has long been argued that tenants tend to overexploit land, but this conventional wisdom has been derived largely without consideration of landlords' actions. We examine what happens when landlords can invest in durable conservation measures in addition to choosing rental contract terms. When...