Agri Environmental Policies In A Transition Economy

This two-volume set collects key essays examining economic theory, methods, and issues salient to agri-environmental policy in the US and in Europe, as well as in other countries. The topics under discussion are arranged thematically and include theoretical, numerical and empirical works; all are grounded in policy and economics. The introduction to these volumes reviews the evolution of agri-environmental policies, with an important focus on the history of US policy and European agri-environmental policy. A key feature within this is the importance of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the US, particularly its move towards more 'market-based incentives' from the 1980s onwards. Within the European context, the effects of the CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) on agri-environmental programmes and schemes within the member states, are discussed. Significantly, the essays republished here have provided the knowledge base that has influenced further applied work, creating an influential impact on policy development.

"The papers in this volume ... were presented at an international conference on Agriculture and the Environment in the Transition to a Market Economy, held on 14-16 September 1993 in Vilnius, Lithuania."--Foreword.

The OECD Stylised Agri-environmental Policy Impact Model (SAPIM), enables better understanding of the impact of agri-environmental policies. This report applies the model to representative farms in Finland, Japan, Switzerland and the United States.

Significant advances have occurred in recent years in Europe and in North America in addressing agri-environmental policies, but whilst important institutional and legal differences still exist between the two continents, the sharing of recent scientific advances will benefit scientists on both sides of the Atlantic. This is the main purpose of this book.

Agriculture is changing rapidly. The greatest current challenge to the agricultural sector is for it to become sustainable in all three of the dimensions profit, people and planet. This is certainly the case in highly urbanized countries like the Netherlands, where agriculture is confronted with high land prices, rising consumer concerns for issues like animal welfare and negative environmental effects but also with new demands from the city for recreation, health care and local food products. These are some of the developments in our society that are forcing agriculture to change. The government, farmers, the agri-food industry and the retail sector struggle to meet this challenge and find new forms of governance. In the Netherlands, the government has called for a ‘transition towards sustainable agriculture’ and it is investing in this programme with its research and education policy. Similar trends have been observed in other countries. This book presents the expertise that has been accrued from at least five years of Dutch research in this area. The aim is to collate the results of the experiments, to learn from them, to confront them with existing theory and to share them with a larger audience in order to foster learning about transition. Given the leading position of the Netherlands in global agriculture, in a highly urbanized setting, and its leading position in the study of transition theory this should be of significant interest to students and researchers of the transitions in agriculture.

The OECD Stylised Agri-environmental Policy Impact Model (SAPIM), enables better understanding of the impact of agri-environmental policies. This report applies the model to representative farms in Finland, Japan, Switzerland and the United States.

This study identifies the most cost-effective policy instruments to address agri-environmental issues in a variety of different situations.