Reduction of nitrogen pollution in agriculture through nitrogen surplus quotas: an analysis of individual marginal abatement cost and different quota allocation schemes using an agent-based model

Alena Schmidt, Gabriele Mack, Stefan Mann () and Johan Six

Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 2021, vol. 64, issue 8, 1375-1391

Abstract: Nitrogen (N) pollution has mostly been controlled using command-and-control instruments. However, nitrogen surplus permits (NSPs), which are tradeable, can be more cost-efficient in addressing the problem. To model this instrument, we calculated the individual marginal abatement cost curve for a sample of about 3,400 Swiss farms using farm-optimization models implemented in the agent-based agricultural sector model SWISSland. We also used SWISSland to analyze the effects of two NSP distribution systems (grandfathering and land-based allocation) on different farm types. The results showed that different farm types range in their abatement costs to reduce N surplus from an average of −0.04 CHF kg−1 N on arable farms to 51.06 CHF kg−1 N on special crop farms. We also found that N surpluses hardly explain the level of abatement costs. The biggest differences in effects of the distribution scheme were found in intensive livestock farm types such as pig or poultry farms.

Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/09640568.2020.1823344 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:jenpmg:v:64:y:2021:i:8:p:1375-1391

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/CJEP20

DOI: 10.1080/09640568.2020.1823344

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Environmental Planning and Management is currently edited by Dr Neil Powe, Dr Ken Willis and George Bill Page

More articles in Journal of Environmental Planning and Management from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().