This paper is a micro-level investigation into the farm-level productivity and efficiency impacts of zero tillage (ZT), a prominent resource conservation technology in agriculture. Often heralded as more sustainable than its conventional tillage alternatives, ZT has a number of positive...

Rice farming in the Lower Colorado River basin of Texas, US, is a major economic engine and a major water consumer. The Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) and the San Antonio Water System (SAWS) sponsored a joint project from 2004 through 2009 to study the feasibility of developing and...

This paper further tests dual interest theory and the metaeconomics approach to environmental choice, recognizing a possible role for empathy-sympathy (the basis for an internalized, shared other-interest) in tempering and conditioning the more fundamental tendency to pursue self-interest. To...

This paper presents the first part of an ongoing project whose objective is to present a long term relationship between conservation tillage, adoption of GE crops and pesticide use for major crops in the United States. In addition, the project aims to provide some innovative tests on causality...

Effects of two tillage treatments and two fallow period managements under continuous maize cropping on soil temperature, soil water dynamics and maize development were evaluated over a 4-year period (2005–2008). Tillage treatments were conventional tillage with mouldboard ploughing and...

Conservation tillage and fertilization based on soil test have been promoted by the Chinese government in recent years. Their impacts on non-point source pollution were simulated using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) for the Liuxi River watershed, the only one local...

This study estimates the costs of adoption of conservation tillage by Iowa corn farmers by utilizing the method of empirical estimation of a logit model that incorporates the full information on the attributes of agents and county aggregated measures of agents’ choices. The methodology treats...

Mississippi cotton farmers are adjusting to the current problem of low cotton price and high cotton production cost by modifying the way(s) they have traditionally grown cotton. This paper compares seven alternative production systems to the costs and returns associated with the conventional or...

In this study, we estimate empirically the multiple benefits of a subsidy policy that would offer payments to farmers in return for the adoption of conservation tillage and compare the outcomes of alternative targeting designs for such a policy. Using data for roughly 12,000 National Resource...

Adoption of conservation tillage can lead to substantial environmental benefits from reduced soil erosion. But benefits may be partially offset if adoption increases reliance on agricultural chemicals. Using area study data from the Cornbelt, this study examines factors affecting adoption of...