Measuring the effect of farmland preservation on farm profitability

Brian J. Schilling, Witsanu Attavanich, Kevin P. Sullivan and Lucas J. Marxen

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: Purchase of development rights (PDR) programs have been created in 27 states to preserve farmland resources. These programs seek to advance several societal objectives, including the protection of farmland from development, retention of rural amenities, and promotion of the economic viability of farming. Using New Jersey farm-level data, this study evaluates whether participation in a state PDR program improves farm profitability. The propensity score matching method is used to correct for selection bias arising from the voluntary nature of these programs. No statistically significant profit differential is found between preserved and observationally equivalent unpreserved farms in our full sample of 4029 farms. When the analysis is replicated across different farm types, we find weak evidence that the profitability of preserved residential lifestyle/retirement farms is lower than that observed for their unpreserved equivalents. In contrast, we find that small farms (

Keywords: Farmland preservation; Purchase of development rights; Agricultural land use policy; Program evaluation; Farm profitability; Propensity score matching (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C21 O13 Q12 Q15 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014-01, Revised 2014-06
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pra:mprapa:100122

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