Indices for Working Land Conservation: Form Affects Function

• Published in: Applied economic perspectives and policy Vol. 28; no. 4; pp. 567 - 584
• Main Authors: Johansson, Robert C., Cattaneo, Andrea
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Malden, USA Oxford University Press 01.12.2006; Blackwell Publishing; Blackwell Publishing Inc; Agricultural and Applied Economics Association; John Wiley & Sons, Inc
• Series: Review of Agricultural Economics
• Subjects: Applied Analyses; Conservation; Conservation programs; Environmental conservation; Environmental programs; Farming; Land conservation; Linear programming; Natural resources conservation; Nitrogen; Pesticides; Plains; Q120; Q150; Q160; Q580; Soil productivity; Studies; Sustainable agriculture; United States > US; Q580; Q120; Q150; Q160
• ISSN: 1058-7195; 2040-5790; 1467-9353; 2040-5804
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9353.2006.00323.x

Using environmental indices (EIs) to rank applications for enrollment in conservation programs is becoming common practice. However, there is little guidance on how it should be done. The indices adopted by existing programs have often been linear, using weighted averages of environmental parameters without explicit consideration of whether they represent a reliable preference ordering on environmental states. Our article investigates society's weights for addressing multiple resource concerns 2and how functional forms of EIs can influence program outcomes. We propose a means by which preference weights are observed from policymaker actions. Weights for multiple resource concerns are determined and combined with biophysical crop simulation data to create an environmental index (EI) for crop rotations. This index is developed using alternative function forms to score conservation efforts on working cropland and to measure their effect on program outcomes.