Heterogeneity in irrigators’ wtp and wta for water reliability

This paper is focused on the valuation of irrigation water supply reliability. We assess WTP and WTA for improvements and worsenings in irrigation water supply reliability, checking for the first time the disparity between average WTA and average WTP for this attribute of irrigation water supply. This assessment relies on a field experiment among farmers in an irrigated area located in southern Spain that is suffering a serious deterioration of water supply reliability because of climate change. Results obtained show average WTP estimates for moderate and significant improvements are €16.5 and €18.5/ha/year, respectively, while the average WTA estimates for moderate and significant worsenings are €765.6 and €881.1/ha/year. This indicates a very high WTA/WTP ratio of 46.4 and 47.6 for moderate and significant changes, much higher than those obtained in previous studies. Possible reasons which may explain such a disparity include reasons within neoclassical economic theory and endowment effects

Protest Responses and Willingness to Accept: Ecosystem Services Providers’ Preferences towards Incentive-Based Schemes

The identification and treatment of protest responses in stated preference surveys has long been subject to debate. We analyse protest responses while investigating ecosystem services providers’ preferences for incentive-based schemes. We use a choice experiment for olive farmers’ preferences for agri-environmental scheme participation in southern Spain. Our two main objectives are: first, to identify and discuss a range of possible motives for protest responses that emerge in a WTA context; second, we analyse the impact on WTA estimates of censoring serial non-participation linked to protest or high compensation requirements (very high takers). Using a random parameter logit model in WTA space, we find that the inclusion or exclusion of serial non-participants in the analysis can have a significant impact on marginal and total WTA estimates. Based on the findings, the paper makes recommendations on how to reduce the incidence of protest responses through survey design, regarding the identification of protesters as opposed to very high takers, and regarding the treatment of both groups of respondents for WTA estimation

KAJIAN USAHATANI PADI SAWAH DI DESA TOMBATU TIGA TIMUR KECAMATAN TOMBATU KABUPATEN MINAHASA TENGGARA

This study aims to determine farmer’s income of rice farming in Eastern Tombatu 3, Tombatu Village, Southeast Minahasa District. This Study take for March to May 2018. Primary data obtained from interview using questionnaires to 5 respondent based on Simplen Random Sampling method, because the respondent homogeneous. Data analyzed used income and cost analysiss, culculated using R/C Ratio. The result showed that the average income of the rice farmers in The Eastern Tombatu 3 Village Rp. 2,033,928 with an R/C Ratio 1,43. It means rice farming in Eastern Tombatu 3 Village Southeast Minahasa District profitable and worth the effort.*lwths*

Heterogeneity of farmers’ preferences towards agri-environmental schemes across different agricultural sub-systems

Specialised literature on the uptake of agri-environmental schemes (AES) has paid little attention to how this can be influenced by the different types of agricultural systems. This paper analyses the heterogeneity of farmers’ preferences towards these schemes, distinguishing between different sub-systems within the same agricultural system. We use the choice experiment method to analyse the case study of three olive grove sub-systems in southern Spain, with the sub-systems ranging from extensive to intensive. The results reveal inter and intra sub-system heterogeneity of farmers’ preferences towards AES both in general and specifically related to scheme attributes. A variety of factors appear to lie behind inter sub-system heterogeneity, especially those associated with sub-system specificities (principally, the type of joint production). Likewise, numerous factors play a role in intra sub-system heterogeneity, most of them related to farm/farmer socioeconomic and physical characteristics. These findings will help in the design of more efficient AE

Factors influencing farmers’ adoption of ecological reconversion agri-environmental schemes in mountain olive groves

Mountain olive groves are characterized by low profitability, mainly due to their location in high steep-slope areas with poor, shallow soils. Consequently, they present a high risk of abandonment of the productive activity, which would be eventually associated with high potential environmental and socio-cultural losses. As an alternative, an ecological reconversion scheme is proposed to increase the provision of ecosystem services from this agroecosystem while reducing the socio-economic impacts related to the abandonment. Two alternative schemes are proposed, which differ in the possibility or not of harvesting the olive production. A double-bounded contingent valuation exercise is used in a sample of Andalusian mountain olive growers to assess their willingness to accept (WTA) for participating in these schemes, using a difference-in-utility model with a linear utility function with correlation between the participation choices in the two schemes as econometric specification. The results show high levels of mean WTA, higher for the scheme precluding harvesting, indicating that higher levels of payment are needed to get some acceptance from farmers. Results also show that structural (e.g., yield) and attitudinal factors (e.g., opinion about setting-aside low productivity olive groves for environmental reasons), among others, significantly influence farmers’ WTA for these schemes

Análisis de la producción de bienes públicos en los sistemas agrarios de regadío para el apoyo en la toma de decisiones relativas al diseño de políticas públicas: el caso del olivar en Andalucía

Las políticas agrarias de los países desarrollados tratan de responder cada vez más a las demandas de su población respecto de la producción de bienes públicos (BPs) por parte de la agricultura. Un claro ejemplo de ello resulta la Política Agraria Común (PAC) de la Unión Europea (UE), cuya orientación a este objetivo está marcando el paso de sucesivas reformas desde inicios de siglo y seguirá haciéndolo en el futuro. Esta mayor orientación de las políticas agrarias a la producción de BPs requiere de un esfuerzo investigador considerable, tanto en lo que respecta a estudios desde el lado de la oferta como del lado de la demanda. La presente tesis viene a avanzar en el análisis de la producción de los BPs por parte de los sistemas agrarios de regadío (SAR), teniendo en cuenta por una parte la importancia de estos sistemas, sobre todo en climas mediterráneos, y por otra el hecho de que la producción de BPs en estos sistemas haya recibido una menor atención por parte de la comunidad académica. Así, se propone un marco analítico para el estudio de los BPs producidos por los SAR, el cual es extrapolable al resto de sistemas. En este marco se distinguen las “presiones” producidas por el agricultor de los “estados” que reflejan la cantidad y calidad del bien. Del empleo de este marco se ha realizado una lista con los doce principales BPs que producen los SAR. A partir de ella, se ha realizado el análisis de cómo cada bien es producido en estos sistemas agrarios, sus grados de rivalidad y exclusión, y la escala a la que es consumido. Este análisis sirve para avanzar en el conocimiento de la producción de BPs agrarios. Igualmente, evidencia cómo el hecho de disponer de agua para riego resulta un factor determinante para la producción de estos bienes, habiéndose encontrado importantes diferencias entre los sistemas agrarios de regadío y secano. A partir de este conocimiento, se ha elegido el caso de estudio de la Demarcación Hidrográfica del Guadalquivir para analizar la producción de los BPs por parte de sus SAR. Se ha realizado una tipología de los SAR en esta demarcación, habiéndose escogido el principal sistema en términos de superficie y agua consumida (el olivar) para analizar más en detalle: i) su producción efectiva de BPs; y ii) cómo se podrían diseñar instrumentos para la promoción de su producción de estos bienes. En el primer análisis, se ha empleado la técnica multricriterio Proceso Analítico en Red (Analytic Network Process o ANP), la cual ha servido para adaptar el marco analítico propuesto empleando un enfoque integrado de análisis. En la aplicación de ANP se incluye una innovación metodológica (aplicación dual de ANP) para poder analizar la propia producción de BPs y las decisiones que la motivan. Como resultado de esta aplicación de ANP, se han identificado los BPs más influenciables por las decisiones del olivicultor de regadío, principalmente: fertilidad del suelo, calidad visual del paisaje agrario, biodiversidad en tierras agrarias y balance de carbono. Se han obtenido además los factores relativos a la toma de decisión por parte del olivicultor que más influyen en la producción de estos BPs. Así, se ha obtenido que las decisiones de éste en el largo plazo (factores estructurales) son considerablemente superiores a las del corto plazo (factores de gestión) respecto de la influencia que presentan en conjunto en la producción de dichos bienes. En particular, las decisiones relativas a la densidad de plantación y dimensión de la explotación aparecen claramente como las más influyentes. Con un nivel de influencia menor aparecen los factores de gestión relativos a los manejos de la fertilización, riego y suelo. A la luz de estos...Agricultural policies of developed countries are increasingly responding to societal demands regarding the production of public goods (PGs) by agriculture. A good example of this is the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Union (EU), wherein efforts to achieve such objectives have been key in recent CAP reforms and will remain so in future reforms. To support greater orientation of agricultural policies to the production of agricultural PGs extensive research of both the supply and demand side is required. The current PhD thesis makes advances in the analysis of the production of PGs by irrigated agricultural systems (IAS), in light of the great importance of these agri-systems, especially in Mediterranean climates, and the fact that the production of PGs by IAS has received little attention from researchers. This research initially provides a robust analytic framework to study the production of PGs by IAS, although the framework can be also applied to other agricultural systems. In particular, this framework makes a distinction between the state of the PG and the pressure produced as a result of farmers’ decision-making. From the framework, it has been created a list of the 12 main PGs provided by IAS. From such list, analyses have been carried out regarding how each of the PGs are provided by IAS, their degrees of rivalry and excludability, and their scale of consumption, explaining the key factors that take place in these systems’ production of PGs. This analysis has served to advance the knowledge concerning the production of each PG by these agricultural systems. This research also demonstrates that irrigation is a determining factor that significantly influences the agricultural production of PGs, having found significant differences in the respective production of these goods between irrigated and rainfed agricultural systems. In this research, the Guadalquivir river basin has been used as case study to analyse the production of PGs by its IAS. A typology of IAS has been developed, choosing the most important in terms of area and water consumption, the irrigated olive groves system (IOG), to carry out an in-depth analysis of: i) its production of PGs; and ii) how policy instruments could be designed to promote such production. For the first analysis, this research provides a novel approach to analysing agricultural PGs production, based on the multi-criteria technique Analytic Network Process (ANP) and applies the aforementioned analytical framework. This ANP application includes an innovative method (the dual approach of ANP) that makes it possible to analyse the most influenced PGs and the most influential decisions by farmers concerning their production. The main advance that this method brings is the application of an integrated approach to the analysis of agricultural PGs production, thus taking account the abundant interrelationships that characterise such production. As a result of this ANP application, there has been identified the PGs most influenced by IOG-farmers’ decisions, which are soil fertility, the visual quality of agricultural landscapes and farmland biodiversity. In addition, the most influential factors affecting the provision of PGs are structural, namely farm size and tree density, and to a lesser extent, management factors dealing with fertilisation, soil and irrigation management. These results suggest that policy-makers should prioritise structural over management policies with regard to the promotion of PGs production by this agri-system. Results also demonstrate that policy-makers should better understand the production..

Investigating the robustness of a learning-based method for quantitative phase retrieval from propagation-based x-ray phase contrast measurements under laboratory conditions

Quantitative phase retrieval (QPR) in propagation-based x-ray phase contrast imaging of heterogeneous and structurally complicated objects is challenging under laboratory conditions due to partial spatial coherence and polychromaticity. A learning-based method (LBM) provides a non-linear approach to this problem while not being constrained by restrictive assumptions about object properties and beam coherence. In this work, a LBM was assessed for its applicability under practical scenarios by evaluating its robustness and generalizability under typical experimental variations. Towards this end, an end-to-end LBM was employed for QPR under laboratory conditions and its robustness was investigated across various system and object conditions. The robustness of the method was tested via varying propagation distances and its generalizability with respect to object structure and experimental data was also tested. Although the LBM was stable under the studied variations, its successful deployment was found to be affected by choices pertaining to data pre-processing, network training considerations and system modeling. To our knowledge, we demonstrated for the first time, the potential applicability of an end-to-end learning-based quantitative phase retrieval method, trained on simulated data, to experimental propagation-based x-ray phase contrast measurements acquired under laboratory conditions. We considered conditions of polychromaticity, partial spatial coherence, and high noise levels, typical to laboratory conditions. This work further explored the robustness of this method to practical variations in propagation distances and object structure with the goal of assessing its potential for experimental use. Such an exploration of any LBM (irrespective of its network architecture) before practical deployment provides an understanding of its potential behavior under experimental settings.Comment: Under review as a journal submission. Early version with partial results has been accepted for poster presentation at SPIE-MI 202

Unraveling determinants of inferred and stated attribute non-attendance: effects on farmers’ willingness to accept to join agri-environmental schemes

Attribute non-attendance (ANA) has received very little attention in the context of willingness to accept (WTA), although an increasing number of studies analyze the preferences of ecosystem service providers towards incentive-based schemes. We add to the understanding of ANA behavior by analyzing stated and inferred ANA in a choice experiment investigating farmers’ WTA for participating in agri-environmental schemes (AES) in southern Spain. We use mixed logit models, following Hess and Hensher (2010) for the inferred ANA approach. Evidence is found of ANA behavior for both stated and inferred approaches, with models accounting for ANA clearly outperforming those that do not account for it; however, we produce no conclusive results as to which ANA approach is best. WTA estimates are only moderately affected, which to some extent is consistent with the low level of non-attendance found for the monetary attribute. Stated and inferred approaches show very similar WTA estimates. Additionally, we investigate sources of observed heterogeneity related to ANA behavior by using a sequence of bivariate probit models for each attribute. Overall, our results hint at a positive relationship between ease of scheme adoption and non-attendance to attributes. However, further research is still needed in this field