This paper looks at the design and operation of the main program in Maryland, the Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Fund (MALPF). We examine the features of the program in comparison to possible alternative designs. Our broader purpose is to examine the nature of farmland preservation and...

The present paper argues that the costs of climate change are primarily adjustment costs. The central result is that climate change will reduce welfare whenever it occurs more rapidly than the rate at which capital stocks (interpreted broadly to include natural resource stocks) would naturally...

Most U.S. farmers prepare their soil for seeding and weed and pest control through tillage—plowing operations that disturb the soil. Tillage practices affect soil carbon, water pollution, and farmers’ energy and pesticide use, and therefore data on tillage can be valuable for understanding...