Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics最新文献

This study assesses individuals' preferences for the use of forest sites for recreational purposes by means of the logit-mixed logit (LML) model. The appeal of the LML is that the analyst does not need to assume any specific functional form for the mixing distributions of random preferences. The empirical analysis generates a data-driven nonparametric representation of individuals' preference heterogeneity. We apply this approach to data collected using an unlabelled discrete choice experiment (DCE), consisting of three recreational options, two of which are in two hypothetical forest sites. Forest destinations are described by means of six attributes: forest type, signposting, hiking time, access to rivers or lakes, wildlife watch hides for visitors and cost of access. The empirical findings reveal that the signpost for each trail is the attribute for which respondents are on average willing to pay the most (6.565€). Further evidence suggests that respondents have strong positive preferences for those forest sites that offer amenities such as wildlife watching hides and access to rivers or lakes. Finally, the histograms derived from the semi-parametric LML estimation reveal multimodality of random taste amongst respondents for different hypothetical forest sites.

The promotion of improved maize varieties and chemical fertilisers underscores many policy approaches addressing multiple production risks such as poor soil fertility and drought. However, the unsustainable use of chemical fertilisers has important implications for soil degradation. The synergies between improved maize varieties and sustainable land use management practices such as the use of organic fertilisers (e.g., manure) are poorly documented, despite the role of manure in enhancing soil organic matter. Employing nationally representative household survey data in Nigeria, this study utilises multivalued inverse probability weighted regression adjustment, entropy balancing and a multinomial endogenous switching regression model to determine the effects of the adoption of drought-tolerant maize varieties (DTMVs) and organic fertiliser on farm households' productivity, per capita total expenditure and per capita food expenditure. Controlling for farm households' observables and unobservables, the estimation results of the average treatment effects show that the highest pay-off on productivity and welfare outcomes is achieved when DTMVs and manure are jointly adopted. Also, wealth indicators, access to loans and access to extension services significantly influenced individual and combinatory packages of DTMVs and manure application adoption. This study underlines the significance of the joint adoption of DTMVs and manure application on rural farmers' productivity and welfare and a substantial contribution to achieving sustainable agricultural practices.

The 2015 EU milk quota abolition initiated considerable expansion in the dairy sector. This expansion has increased the demand for additional labour in some EU countries, most significantly in Ireland. This paper explores the role of hired labour on Irish dairy farms' technical efficiency (TE). We use a detailed farm-level panel data set of a representative sample from 2000 to 2018. To estimate transient, persistent, and overall TE over time, we apply a 4-component stochastic frontier model. Our findings show significant variation in TE scores over the period. We also control for endogeneity to obtain marginal effects of hired labour on TE. The results reveal that hired labour has a significant yet small, positive effect on farms' TE. Our findings suggest that the effect of hired labour on TE is larger for small and medium-sized farms. This effect is larger when herd size increases.

Livestock productivity and profitability are threatened by livestock diseases. In this study, we examine farmers' revealed preferences for testing and treating gastrointestinal parasites in sheep in Sweden, taking into account the sequential structure of these decisions. We control for preventive measures, as well as the potential impact of wildlife–livestock disease transmission on farmers' decisions. A zero-inflated ordered probit model is used to estimate the determinants of farmers' decisions, and we cross-validate the robustness of the results to alternative model assumptions. Results from the regressions are used to calculate the consequences of these choices for farmers' profits. The results show that treatment decisions are informed by faecal testing, while both testing and treatment are influenced by the grazing practices, the size of the operation and access to information. Contrary to expectations from the conceptual framework, preventive management practices are positively correlated with treatment. Farmers take multiple risk factors into account when deciding on testing, but we do not find that the same factors affect the outcome of treatment. The economic impacts are small and suggest that treatment without prior testing is more profitable for the farmer than informed treatment. If widespread treatment increases drug resistance, this could motivate policies that encourage testing.

In groundwater-constrained areas, reallocating groundwater away from agriculture to achieve environmental outcomes has become a popular top-down regulatory approach. However, little attention has been paid to understanding public preferences for such policies. Using a choice experiment, we explore community preferences for different components of a groundwater allocation management program affecting agriculture in a severely water-constrained but highly groundwater-dependent environment, Western Australia. We find strong community preferences for a substantial reallocation away from agriculture, with compensation based on ecological benefits, regular monitoring through meters and a medium-level penalty for those that over-extract. The estimated non-market value to implement a groundwater management program comprising the preferred structure is up to AU$61 million per year. This result demonstrates the value of considering community preferences when designing groundwater management policies.

Natural wetlands in urbanised areas provide practical services, including flood control and amenity values such as views, wildlife habitat and recreational opportunities. But cities also construct wetlands to improve flood control and ecosystem services, the value of which might change property prices. This paper reports analyses of property prices that provide estimates of wetlands' localised amenity values in Auckland, New Zealand's largest city. A major challenge is that the selection of sites for wetlands’ construction is not random; amenity value is potentially confounded by property and neighbourhood characteristics that vary across space and over time. We use a combination of repeat-sales models, difference-in-differences and matching models to control for unobserved heterogeneity in property and neighbourhood characteristics. The results indicate that local benefit from constructed wetlands ranges from about 5% to 9% depending on the location of the property in areas adjacent to the wetlands or in a larger catchment of interest. Our results have a causal interpretation if the selection criteria are applied uniformly across Auckland and are valuable in assessing the benefits of constructed wetlands.

Given that income disparity is expanding and diet-related environmental footprints are increasing in urban China, this study aims to investigate the heterogeneity in these footprints across various income classes and examine the effect of income distribution on the total environmental footprints. Based on the quadratic almost ideal demand system model and taking into consideration the problems of endogeneity of food expenditure and zero expenditure, we estimate the income elasticities for 10 food categories across seven income classes and project the diet-related environmental footprints under seven scenarios for various strategies of the income distribution. The results show that per capita diet-related environmental footprints are greater for higher income classes than for lower income classes, as the former consume more animal-based food. Compared with high-income classes, income growth favouring low-income classes results in a rather significant increase in diet-related environmental footprints. With further economic growth, the lowest income group makes the greatest contribution to the increase in diet-related environmental footprints. Thus, policymakers should promote a more sustainable diet on the road to alleviating income inequality to ensure sustainable environmental development.

Stable agricultural production has been substantially challenged by increasingly frequent calamitous weather conditions. For winter wheat, continuous precipitation during the harvest season is particularly detrimental. This study utilises a county-level panel dataset of agricultural production in China for the period of 1998–2016 to evaluate the impact of continuous precipitation on the downside risk of winter wheat yield. Results show that continuous precipitation during the harvest season remarkably increases the downside risk of winter wheat yield. At the same time, the progressive adoption of harvest machinery in recent decades has effectively mitigated the downside risk of winter wheat yield driven by continuous precipitation. The mitigation effects of harvest mechanisation are more pronounced for plain areas with better-developed transportation infrastructure.

This study uses a multicountry, dynamic, quarterly CGE model, GlobeTERM, to estimate the economic impacts of a hypothetical foot and mouth disease outbreak in Australia. The national welfare losses arising from the outbreak depend mostly on the duration of trade sanctions by importers of Australian animal products. If an outbreak is contained within several months, and trade sanctions are dropped within a year of the outbreak, the net present value of Australia's welfare losses may be around AUS$10 billion. If all importers restore Australian access within a year, other than China–Hong Kong, which delays by 5 years, welfare losses are around AUS$21 billion. In a less likely scenario, in which trade sanctions persist in all trading partners for 5 years after the disease has been eradicated, contrary to international guidelines, welfare losses may exceed AUS$85 billion. Trading partners also suffer welfare losses due to trade sanctions. These losses are large enough to imply, from a global perspective, that a shift towards vaccinate-to-live policies combined with global efforts to eradicate the disease may be cost-effective.