Land use change from agriculture to forestry: a structural model of the income and leisure choices of farmers

Mary Ryan, Cathal O'Donoghue and Vincent Upton

No 212285, 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy from International Association of Agricultural Economists

Abstract: The role of forests in our environment is increasing in importance due to the multifunctional benefits forests provide in relation to climate change mitigation, water conservation and provision of fibre for bioenergy. However, afforestation targets across Europe are not being met. Using Ireland as a case study, we investigate why farm afforestation rates are falling, despite the availability of generous subsidies. We use a novel technique to examine the afforestation participation decision using a life cycle choice framework where we apply revealed choice methodology to afforestation for the first time. We find that the model coefficients coincide with expected economic theory relative to the utility maximisation of income, leisure and wealth (long term land value). However, we observe a cohort of farmers who do not plant forestry regardless of income derived, reflecting their preference to maintain the flexibility of the long term value of their land by continuing to farm.

Keywords: Land; Economics/Use (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 16
Date: 2015
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-env and nep-upt
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Related works:
Working Paper: LAND USE CHANGE FROM AGRICULTURE TO FORESTRY: A STRUCTURAL MODEL OF THE INCOME AND LEISURE CHOICES OF FARMERS (2014)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:iaae15:212285

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.212285

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