Adoption of No-Tillage Practices, Other Conservation-Tillage Practices and Herbicide-Resistant Cotton Seed, and Their Synergistic Environmental Impacts

If adoption of herbicide-resistant seed and adoption of conservation-tillage practices are determined simultaneously, adoption of herbicide-resistant seed could indirectly reduce soil erosion and adoption of conservation-tillage practices could indirectly reduce residual herbicide use and increase farm profits. Our objective was to evaluate the relationship between these technologies for Tennessee cotton production. Evidence from simultaneous estimation of a trinomial logit model for adoption of no-tillage, other conservation-tillage, and conventional-tillage practices and a binomial logit model for adoption of herbicide-resistant and conventional cotton seed suggests a simultaneous relationship. The elasticity for acreage in herbicide-resistant seed with respect to the probability of adopting conservation-tillage practices was 3.98. The elasticities for acreages in no-tillage practices and other conservation-tillage practices with respect to the probability of adopting herbicide-resistant cotton seed were 0.34 and 0.10, respectively. Adoption of herbicide-resistant cotton seed in Tennessee reduced soil erosion by 9.2 million tons through its effects on adoption of conservation-tillage practices. By 2004, increases in adoption of conservation-tillage practices increased adoption of herbicide-resistant cotton seed by 445 thousand acres, substituting non-residual herbicides for residual herbicides on those cotton acres.Environmental Economics and Policy,

Utility of remotely sensed data for identification of soil conservation practices

Discussed are a variety of remotely sensed data sources that may have utility in the identification of conservation practices and related linear features. Test sites were evaluated in Alabama, Kansas, Mississippi, and Oklahoma using one or more of a variety of remotely sensed data sources, including color infrared photography (CIR), LANDSAT Thematic Mapper (TM) data, and aircraft-acquired Thermal Infrared Multispectral Scanner (TIMS) data. Both visual examination and computer-implemented enhancement procedures were used to identify conservation practices and other linear features. For the Kansas, Mississippi, and Oklahoma test sites, photo interpretations of CIR identified up to 24 of the 109 conservation practices from a matrix derived from the SCS National Handbook of Conservation Practices. The conservation practice matrix was modified to predict the possibility of identifying the 109 practices at various photographic scales based on the observed results as well as photo interpreter experience. Some practices were successfully identified in TM data through visual identification, but a number of existing practices were of such size and shape that the resolution of the TM could not detect them accurately. A series of computer-automated decorrelation and filtering procedures served to enhance the conservation practices in TM data with only fair success. However, features such as field boundaries, roads, water bodies, and the Urban/Ag interface were easily differentiated. Similar enhancement techniques applied to 5 and 10 meter TIMS data proved much more useful in delineating terraces, grass waterways, and drainage ditches as well as the features mentioned above, due partly to improved resolution and partly to thermally influenced moisture conditions. Spatially oriented data such as those derived from remotely sensed data offer some promise in the inventory and monitoring of conservation practices as well as in supplying parameter data for a variety of computer-implemented agricultural models

CHOICES OF SOIL CONSERVATION METHODS ON KWAZULU-NATAL COMMERCIAL SUGARCANE FARMS

A Principal components analysis and multiple regression techniques are used to analyse heterogeneity in 53 KwaZulu-Natal sugarcane farmers soil conservation decisions. Minimum tillage and construction of water carrying terraces are the most common methods used, whereas trash mulching is least commonly practised. Results indicate that farmers' demands for soil conservation, their demands for other attributes of soil conservation practices and interactions between practices are important to explaining their choices. Intra-farm variation in use of soil conservation methods is small relative to inter-farm variation. Education programmes, provision of information, and improving farmers' technical soil conservation skills have implications for aggregate soil conservation adoption, whereas the types of information provided, fire insurance programmes and soil conservation subsidies have implications for the combinations of practices adopted.Crop Production/Industries, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Conservation impediments and incentives – progressing the understanding of linkages between the adoption of conservation practices and the motivational orientation of graziers in the tropical savannas

The adoption of conservation practices is a complex matter – rural landholders consider a wide variety of factors and characteristics when deciding whether to adopt a conservation practice. To confound the issue, recent research has suggested that the goals of landholders affect the adoption of conservation practices by creating a subjective consideration of the relative importance of impediments and effectiveness of incentives in the adoption decision. In this research we describe an empirical link between graziers’ goals and their perceptions of the relative importance of impediments and the effectiveness of incentives in the adoption of conservation practices. The research was carried out in the tropical savannas region of Australia where pastoral production dominates the landscape and where it is of prime importance to ensure that grazing land is included in the conservation estate. The results suggest that to increase the adoption of conservation practices, schemes will have to be developed with reference to graziers subjective views on impediments and on the effectiveness of incentives.Graziers, goals, conservation, tropical savannas, impediments, incentives, Crop Production/Industries,

Australia cultural built heritage:Stakeholders' perceived conservation barriers and motivations

Stakeholders are recognised as drivers of effective conservation of cultural built heritage. Yet, as stakeholders have eclectic views in terms of their interest in, knowledge of and perceptions about the management of historic fabric, their practices are often diverse. The objective of this paper is to gain an understanding of the stakeholders' views drawn from relevant professional field on the issues that act as barriers to conservation and identify the factors that motivate built heritage management in Australia. Using a qualitative research design, two focus groups were conducted in Queensland and New South Wales with purposely selected key informants (N=14) working in the Australian heritage sector. The study presents stakeholders' interest in managing built heritage and the perceptions concerning the application of conservation policy and practices in the Australian built heritage sector, as influenced by the interdisciplinary backgrounds of participants. The paper contributes to an in-depth understanding of the conservation barriers and motivators and their implications for policy and practices in the management of Australian built heritage. The study is based on the perceptions of key informants with diverse interests and knowledge about the conservation of cultural built heritage; this makes the research analysis and implications inclusive and influential from both theoretical and practical points of view.</p

Adoption of Soil Conservation Practices in Olive Groves: The Case of Spanish Mountainous Areas

This paper presents some results from a survey carried out in 2004 among 223 olive tree farmers from mountainous areas in the Spanish Southern provinces of Granada and Jaen regarding the adoption of soil conservation and management practices. Olive tree groves in mountainous areas are subject to a high risk of soil erosion and have to incur in higher costs of soil conservation. This results in greater difficulties to comply with cross-compliance and to benefit from agri-environmental schemes. Our main objectives are to analyse the current level of adoption of soil conservation practices and to analyse which socio-economic and institutional factors determine such adoption. Three Probit models are estimated. Dependant variables are three different soil conservation practices, namely tillage following contour lines, maintenance of terraces with stonewalls, and non-tillage with weedicides.olive groves, soil conservation, technology adoption, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q12, Q24,

Adoption of Soil Erosion Control Practices in Southern Spain Olive Groves

This paper presents results from a survey carried out in 2005 among 147 olive tree farmers from the Alto Genil River Basin in Southern Spain regarding the adoption of soil conservation and management practices. Olive tree groves in South-eastern Spain's mountainous areas are subject to a high risk of soil erosion and have to incur in high costs of soil conservation. This results in great difficulties to comply with cross-compliance and to benefit from agri-environmental schemes. Our main objectives are to analyse the current level of adoption of soil conservation practices and to analyse which socio-economic and institutional factors determine such adoption. Three Probit models are estimated. Dependant variables are three different soil conservation practices, namely tillage following contour lines, maintaining the rests of pruning on the ground, and non-tillage with weedicides.olive groves, soil erosion, soil conservation, cross compliance, Crop Production/Industries, Q12, Q24,

Adoption of soil organic carbon-enhancing practices: A case of two watershed sites in Ethiopia.

This study aimed at identifying the factors that determine the decision to adopt and the intensity of adoption of soil organic carbon (SOC)-enhancing practices using two watershed sites in Ethiopia: Yiser (Amhara region) and Azugashube (Southern region). The study used survey data collected from 379 sample households drawn from four Kebele/village administrations at each watershed site. Multivariate and ordinary least squares regressions were used to identify the factors that determine the decision to adopt the SOC-enhancing practices and the factors that determine the extent of adoption of these practices, respectively. The study classified these various practices into three classes: soil and water conservation, agronomic, and agroforestry SOC-enhancing practices. We find that the decision to adopt soil and water conservation practices is negatively related to both the decision to adopt agronomic and to adopt agroforestry SOC-enhancing practices. On the contrary, we find that the decision to adopt agronomic and agroforestry practices is complementary. The study also identified diverse agroecological, farming system, institutional, and household characteristics that determine the decision to adopt and the intensity of adoption of the three SOCenhancing practices. Among the different variables, the study found location as a strong determinant of the type and intensity of adoption of the SOC practices

A Discursive Narrative On Planning For Urban Heritage Conservation In Contemporary World Heritage Cities In Portugal

This article analyses the structure of heritage conservation in the national context of Portugal. It assesses the political context in which planning operates, and the place of conservation and heritage planning within the planning system. By exploring how heritage conservation discourses developed within the national planning framework it is possible to understand the emergence of conservation practices and to consider recommendations for improved efficiency. The World Heritage cities in Portugal inform this research, as its designation should stand for best historic practices, internationally recognized and thus also compliant to an internationally coherent approach towards conservation policies. The narrative unveils a regulatory legislative framework exposed in general considerations rhetorically formulated as policy, usually setting out objectives and requirements, but saying ‘very little about the methodologies to be followed in the preparation of the plans’ (Rosa Pires 2001, p. 185). The resulting overlapping and sometimes conflicting competences, aims and objectives, all at play in the management of the historic city, thus call for concerted strategies underpinned by appropriate organizational and institutional structures and consistent policy making, where inclusive participation of all key stakeholders involved is critical

Adoption of Conservation-Tillage Practices in Cotton Production

Replaced with revised version of paper 10/23/07.conservation tillage, cotton, genetically modified seed, herbicide-resistant cotton, stacked-gene cotton, simultaneous logit model, single-equation logit model, technology adoption, Crop Production/Industries,