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Valuing Trade‐Offs between Net Returns and Stewardship Practices: The Case of Soil Conservation in Saskatchewan
Author(s) -
Van Kooten G. C.,
Weisensel Ward P.,
Chinthammit Duangdao
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
american journal of agricultural economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.949
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1467-8276
pISSN - 0002-9092
DOI - 10.2307/1243149
Subject(s) - stewardship (theology) , agriculture , soil quality , soil conservation , quality (philosophy) , agroforestry , business , agricultural economics , environmental science , natural resource economics , economics , geography , political science , philosophy , archaeology , epistemology , politics , law
In this paper, a trade‐off function between net returns and soil quality is developed for farmers in southwestern Saskatchewan using a Markov decision model. The results show that farmers who are concerned with soil levels or stewardship employ chem‐fallow more often at lower soil moisture levels and also tend to crop more intensively to conserve soil. The major conclusion is that concern for soil quality, as documented by some researchers, does have practical significance in changing agronomic practices; but, when soil is relatively deep, it takes a fairly substantial concern about soil quality before it is possible to distinguish clearly the agricultural practices of farmers who are truly concerned with stewardship from those who are not.