ANALYZING AGRICULTURAL LANDOWNERS' WILLINGNESS TO INSTALL STREAMSIDE BUFFERS

Lori Lynch, Ian W. Hardie and Doug Parker

No 28570, Working Papers from University of Maryland, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics

Abstract: Many watershed organizations have prioritized establishing streamside (riparian) buffers on agricultural land to improve water quality. Using data from a 2000 survey of 500 Maryland landowners, we examine what level of financial incentives they would require to install such buffers for 15 years on a voluntary basis. A random utility model is developed where a landowner is willing to accept the offered contract if he or she receives a higher utility from the incentive payment and buffer installation than from not planting the buffer. Given the development pressure in the Washington D.C./Baltimore corridor, we test whether farmers need more than the agricultural opportunity costs to encumber their land. Higher incentive payments, part-time farming, education, and a Lower Shore location positively influence the respondent=s willingness to install a buffer. Length of the farming horizon, age, and a Southern Maryland location negatively influence the respondent=s willingness.

Keywords: Environmental Economics and Policy; Land Economics/Use (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 37
Date: 2002
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:umdrwp:28570

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.28570

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