Inefficient performance of irrigation systems not only leads to a waste of water resources, but may also affect agriculture production, especially in regions facing a water stress problem. In rural China, only 40% of the water allocated to irrigation is effectively used, a figure much lower than...

Growth of the water market since the early 1990s has generated controversy in California's source regions over two types of transfers - those drawing on native groundwater reserves and those resulting from crop idling. Given incomplete state-level protections for third parties who may suffer...

The U. S. biodiesel industry is rapidly expanding due to energy production concerns, environmental concerns, and recent legislation. The most common type of biodiesel in the United States is derived from soybean oil. Soybeans are a major crop in North Dakota and could easily supply a 5 million...

Risk and uncertainty in a water market will generate trading patterns that differ from those expected under conditions of perfect foresight. Although trades will occur based on differences in VMPs of water in both markets, they will also be generated by differences in risk. Some farmers will...

Dynamic evolutions of resource stocks with stochastic elements in the transition equation are in general very difficult to master. Their handling requires a deep understanding of control theory, probability theory and sometimes even of game theory due to strategic interaction of ‘'agents'’....

Fishermen who compete for a resource in an open access setting generally do not share information amongst each other about where stocks are located. On the other hand, in fisheries where there are established property rights or fishing cooperatives, fishermen tend to share information with each...

Because of the recent soaring petroleum price and growing environmental concerns, biodiesel has become an important alternative fuel. Biodiesel is the mono alky esters made from a vegetable oil, such as soybean or rapeseed oil, or sometimes from animal fats. The escalation in world petroleum...

The translog cost function approach is employed to characterize the production structure and to estimate the rate of technical change and technical bias in the saw and planing mills industry (SPM) in the New Brunswick Province. The findings are that the production structure of the saw and...

Paper replaced with revised version 06/03/08

Given the current situation with the high price of oil (an average of $53 per barrel in 2005) and the risk of global warming, the European Union (EU) is reinforcing its objectives related to the production of biofuels: they should account for 5.75% of the overall fuel consumption by 2010 in...