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Some Hard Truths About Agriculture and the Environment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 September 2016

Erik Lichtenberg
Erik Lichtenberg*
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Maryland
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Abstract

Environmental problems in agriculture have proven difficult to address due to the spatial heterogeneity and temporal variability intrinsic to agriculture. Agriculture is largely a struggle against nature; both its sustainability and the prospects for improving environmental performance and farm income simultaneously are thus inherently limited. Agriculture's high degree of variability makes direct regulation inefficient. Subsidies for improving environmental performance can have negative consequences and have proven ineffective in practice, due largely to bureaucratic culture. Pollution taxes should be the most effective and efficient form of policy. Interdisciplinary research is needed to provide models for performance evaluation.

Keywords

agricultureenvironmentfertilizerlivestock wastepesticidespollution
Type
Invited Papers
Information
Agricultural and Resource Economics Review , Volume 33 , Issue 1 , April 2004 , pp. 24 - 33
Copyright
Copyright © 2004 Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association 

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