Data envelopment analysis is applied to original farm-level data to investigate pesticide productivity in Vietnamese rice production. Pesticides are shown to have detrimental effects on productivity. A program aimed at reducing pesticide use is shown to be more cost-efficient in some...

Conservation subsidies may be awarded for otherwise profitable projects, in which case they do not improve environmental quality. We show that transaction costs involved in such subsidy programs may induce farmers to reduce the size and scope of conservation projects. An empirical study shows...

State and federal regulators have been considering making livestock integrators jointly responsible with growers for waste disposal. We show that joint responsibility will generally be efficient when contracts are structured to address problems of grower moral hazard. But joint responsibility...

Nonpoint sources of water pollutants, in particular, nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus, are increasingly a focus of US water pollution policy. In most cases, agriculture is the largest contributor of these pollutants, in part because, until recently, it has largely remained unregulated....

A theoretical analysis of equilibrium contracts between risk neutral landlords and tenants when tenants' soil exploitation is non-contractible indicates that landlords will overinvest in conservation structures. An empirical model using farm-level data provides evidence that investment in...

Expanded world trade carries with it increased risks of invasions of exotic species and thus increased risks of ecological and economic damage. In the face of such risks, expansion of trade depends critically on the ability to detect unintended introductions of organisms in import shipments and...

Dairy production in the US has experienced a marked increase in the size of dairy operations over time. Even as total production has grown over time, smaller operations have been disappearing. Consequently, the viability of smaller dairy farms has become an important policy concern in regions...

Water scarcity is likely to increase in the coming years, making improvements in irrigation efficiency increasingly important. An emerging technology that promises to increase irrigation efficiency substantially is a wireless irrigation sensor network that uploads sensor data into irrigation...

We use data from a survey of leafy greens and tomato growers in the Mid-Atlantic region to investigate the prevalence and cost of produce safety practices required under the proposed Produce Rule implementing the Food Safety Modernization Act. Majorities of our respondents currently employ most...

We examine how the system of “federalism, Chinese style” functions in the context of land allocation. China’s land laws give provision of land a central role in local officials’ growth promotion strategies. Requisitions of farmland by local authorities have engendered significant rural...