Land Quality and International Agricultural Productivity: A Distance Function Approach

Agricultural productivity measurement has been of great interest in recent years. Although analysts have long recognized that land quality plays an important role in agricultural productivity, land quality has been difficult to quantify and include in productivity models due to d ata limitations. Poor land quality, in the form of desertification, erosion, and poor soil quality, as well as climate and precipitation may limit growth in productivity over time. A Malmquist productivity index is proposed that decomposes productivity into efficiency change, technical change and land quality components and accounts for inter-country differences in land quality. The index is then applied to a 109-country data set covering 1980 to 2003. Many countries with lower productivity growth are limited by their resource endowment, and thus require policies and technology that reflect the needs of those environments.Land Economics/Use, Productivity Analysis,

RISK, GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS, AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Nearly all farm business ventures involve financial risk. In some instances, private and public tools used to manage financial risks in agriculture may influence farmers' production decisions. These decisions, in turn, can influence environmental quality. This bulletin summarizes research and provides some perspective on private and public attempts to cope with financial risks and their unintended environmental consequences. Specifically, it examines the conceptual underpinnings of risk-related research, challenges involved with measuring the consequences of risk for agricultural production decisions, government programs that influence the risk and return of farm businesses, and how production decisions influence both the environment and the risk and average returns to farming.risk, agricultural production, government programs, environment, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Risk and Uncertainty,

RESOURCE QUALITY AND AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY: A MULTI-COUNTRY COMPARISON

This paper builds on earlier studies of agricultural productivity by incorporating spatially referenced soil and climate data combined with high-resolution land-cover data. Econometric analysis of these data, along with panel data on agricultural inputs and outputs from 110 countries for 1961-1997, quantifies the significant impact that differences in land quality have on agricultural productivity.Productivity Analysis,

Farmer Assessment of Velvetbean as a Green Manure in Veracruz, Mexico: Experimentation and Expected Profits

This study explores factors associated with farmers' decision to experiment with velvetbean (Mucuna spp.) , a green manure, as a maize intercrop in three villages of Veracruz, Mexico. T o assess whether velvetbean might be adopted on a wide scale in the region, the study also examines variation in farmers' perceptions of profits achieved by using the velvetbean intercrop compared to the farmers' usual practice. A stratified random sample of 92 households was selected from three villages reflecting differing conditions in the study area. All farmers who practiced in a velvetbean extension program in the previous year were included; a random sample was drawn of the remaining households in the villages. The analysis reveals that the current practice to which the farmers compared the maize/velvetbean intercrop played an important role in the perceived profitability of the new technology. Farmers who used neither herbicides nor fertilizer perceived a much larger positive difference in expected profits than farmers who compared the velvetbean intercrop with maize production using fertilizer or herbicides both. Farmers with opportunities to earn off-farm income were less likely to experiment with the velvetbean. Thus velvetbean may be adoptable on a wide scale by poorer farmers with limited access to chemical inputs and off-farm employment. However, these conclusions should be qualified in several ways. First, this study did not account for the full costs of using modern chemicals. Second. since the study was conducted, falling maize prices, coupled with higher prices for chemical inputs and more restricted availability of credit, may have made the intercrop more attractive to farmers. Third, the study was conducted early in the technology dissemination process, and farmers' judgements are based on only limited experience with velvetbean. Future experimentation with velvetbean, or another green manure in combination with inorganic fertilizer might prove acceptable to farmers and enhance the sustainability of maize production in ways that the use of chemical fertilizer alone could not do. It would also be useful if future research could assess whether velvetbean as an intercrop is actually more sustainable than current practices or whether social benefits of wide-scale velvetbean adoption would be greater than social costs

SOIL MANAGEMENT AND THE FARM TYPOLOGY: DO SMALL FAMILY FARMS MANAGE SOIL AND NUTRIENT RESOURCES DIFFERENTLY THAN LARGE FAMILY FARMS?

There is increasing recognition that farmers face constraints on their farming decisions depending on the their resources, stage in life, and lifestyle choices. These factors are captured in a new farm typology developed by the Economic Research Service. The farm typology's definition of small and large farms is used to test the commonly stated hypothesis that small farmers practice better land husbandry than do large farmers. The adoption of eleven different soil and nutrient management practices used by U.S. corn producers is analyzed with a bivariate logit model for each practice. The farm typology is found to be significantly associated with two of the practices - rotation with legumes and conservation tillage

SOIL MANAGEMENT AND THE FARM TYPOLOGY: DO SMALL FAMILY FARMS MANAGE SOIL AND NUTRIENT RESOURCES DIFFERENTLY THAN LARGE FAMILY FARMS?

There is increasing recognition that farmers face constraints on their farming decisions depending on the their resources, stage in life, and lifestyle choices. These factors are captured in a new farm typology developed by the Economic Research Service. The farm typology's definition of small and large farms is used to test the commonly stated hypothesis that small farmers practice better land husbandry than do large farmers. The adoption of eleven different soil and nutrient management practices used by U.S. corn producers is analyzed with a bivariate logit model for each practice. The farm typology is found to be significantly associated with two of the practices – rotation with legumes and conservation tillage.Crop Production/Industries,

Land Quality and International Agricultural Productivity: A Distance Function Approach

Agricultural productivity measurement has been of great interest in recent years. Although analysts have long recognized that land quality plays an important role in agricultural productivity, land quality has been difficult to quantify and include in productivity models due to d ata limitations. Poor land quality, in the form of desertification, erosion, and poor soil quality, as well as climate and precipitation may limit growth in productivity over time. A Malmquist productivity index is proposed that decomposes productivity into efficiency change, technical change and land quality components and accounts for inter-country differences in land quality. The index is then applied to a 109-country data set covering 1980 to 2003. Many countries with lower productivity growth are limited by their resource endowment, and thus require policies and technology that reflect the needs of those environments