In this paper we analyse the impact of the EU multi-level cofinancing system on regional policy-making and priority setting taking the case of the agri-environmental programme of Saxony-Anhalt. The implications of several co-financing scenarios are analysed and compared to respective lump-sum...

According to the formulation of a political concept which centres on the principles of sustainable agricultural land use, agri-environmental aspects have gained an accretive importance within model based policy consultation. In this context, the following article illustrates the Regionalised...

Until now, organic farming in Austria saw its largest growth in the period between 1994 and 1998. The following factors all contributed to Austria achieving the highest percentage of organic farms in Europe: the early addition of guidelines for organic crop production and animal husbandry to the...

A lot of research is carried out on the Contingent Valuation Method to assess environmental goods. However, the method is rarely applied to quantify reimbursements for agri-environmental policy. In this paper, this contradiction is explained by conceptual shortcomings of the Contingent...

Organic farming is promoted financially in the Federal Republic of Germany since 1989. The entire segment shows a very dynamic development since that time. In the past eleven years, the organically managed land area has increased more than ten-fold. Now, a large bouquet of measures are offered...

A large portion of the agri-structural policies and agri-environmental policies in the Federal Republic of Germany are decided within the framework of complex decision-making structures and fiscal responsibility at different political levels (the federal states, the national government, and the...

Using the example of the MAB Biosphere Preserve “Mittlere Elbeâ€, this article demonstrates how an “optimal†land-use pattern – a pattern aimed at combining ecological, economic and social objectives in an adequate way – can be determined. The focus is on the...

Planning agricultural and environmental programmes has become a complex task. In this paper we show how interactive programming can help to solve such complex policy decision-making problems. The basic linear programming model is implemented with Excel. We show, for a hypothetical agricultural...

This paper sets out to develop an economic framework for ex post evaluations of agri-environmental schemes. We begin by developing a non-parametric model for estimating farm-level environmental efficiency scores. We then use this efficiency framework to devise a set of economic criteria for...