The paper discusses an ex ante evaluation of the derogation on the Nitrates Directive for Flanders, Belgium, which is a case of intensive but highly productive livestock areas. The aim is to develop an accurate simulation model to detect small differences in manure surpluses caused by changes of...

Within the framework of the nitrate directive, member states have the possibility to apply forderogation, i.e. increasing fertilization standards under certain conditions. Several EU regionshave made use of this possibility but all in a different way. In 2009, 6 different derogationpolicies were...

Current thoughts on CAP changes, e.g. the "Health Check", emphasize the necessity to move away from payments based on historical receipts towards a "flatter rate" system. The aim of current research is to simulate the impact of a flat rate system (equal payments per hectare of cultivated land)...

To explain over- and underuse of available quota, Buysse et al. (2007) have integrated the shadow cost of the quota constraint in a quota flexibility function in a positive mathematical programming model. This method and central hypothesis, formulated and tested for the case of Belgian sugar...

In 2005, 30% of the Flemish farms faced a manure excess, while at aggregated level still 9.7% of the emission rights were unused. This means that, despite the various possibilities, Flemish farmers do not succeed in an effective exchange of manure between farms. In current paper is shown how...

We apply a spatial price equilibrium model of the world sugar market to simulate an abolishment of the EU quota system in 2015/16. To overcome the normative nature of the approach, we calibrate the model by attaching a non-linear cost term to each trade flow. This is in some regards similar to...

The paper analyses the governance choices in production quota with the Flemish nutrient production rights as a case. A static model of quota trade in the short run shows the inefficiency of discrete non-auctioned trade with fixed transaction costs. This model also shows that an obligation to...

Within the framework of the nitrate directive, member states have the possibility to apply for derogation, i.e. increasing fertilization standards under certain conditions. Several EU regions have made use of this possibility but all in a different way. In 2009, 6 different derogation policies...

For practical considerations, it is in some case impossible to simulate MAS models at population level. The current paper shows that MAS models applied to samples with heterogeneous costs of interactions between agents have biased results. Heterogeneous costs of interactions in MAS models can...