ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS OF FARMING: THINKING ABOUT THE MANAGEMENT CHALLENGE: DISCUSSION

Environmental Economics and Policy,

A HEDONIC ANALYSIS OF PRIVATE HUNTING LAND ATTRIBUTES USING AN ALTERNATIVE FUNCTIONAL FORM

A hedonic framework is used to analyze selected attributes of Louisiana deer hunting leases that are hypothesized to be significant contributors to lease value. The flexible Box-Cox functional form is used in contrast to the often utilized linear regression specification. Additionally, the hypothesis of regional differences in slope coefficients of lease attributes is addressed. Results indicate that hunters in the two analyzed regions value lease attributes and services differently.Land Economics/Use,

A PROTOCOL OR A SET OF STANDARDS TO GUIDE AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS RESEARCH

This article examines some difficult decisions that agricultural economists must confront in doing research. Over many years, rules and standards have developed in agricultural economics that guide researchers, providing an underlying framework for research methods. This article deals with applying these seldom discussed guidelines to specific research situations confronted by agricultural economists. With this article, we hope to stimulate a dialogue among agricultural economists about the need for additional, appropriate methodological guidelines in agricultural economics research.Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

An Economic Analysis of Waterfowl Hunting in Louisiana (Bulletin #841)

Waterfowl-related activities generate millions of dollars for Louisiana’s economy annually, with duck and goose hunting as one of the most significant sporting activities. Economic information on the characteristics that influence the decision to hunt waterfowl can provide valuable information to resource managers faced with declining waterfowl populations as well as declining numbers of waterfowl hunters.https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/agcenter_bulletins/1017/thumbnail.jp

QUALITY AS A LATENT VARIABLE IN RECREATION ACCESS ANALYSIS

Recreation trends indicating an increasing demand for quality recreation experiences suggest the need for special consideration of quality in analysis of fee access recreation. By viewing quality as a subjective latent variable, this paper uses a simultaneous equation framework to consider the use of subjective versus objective appraisals of quality in fee-based recreation access analysis.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

EVALUATING NATURE-BASED TOURISM USING THE NEW ENVIRONMENTAL PARADIGM

Nature-based tourism (NBT), alternatively known as ecotourism, is a rapidly expanding area in the tourism travel sector. States such as Louisiana with a well established urban-based tourism industry may have expansion opportunities through development of complementary nature-based tourism. This study analyzes the decision to participate in NBT among Louisiana tourists.Nature tourism, Ecotourism, NEP, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Optimizing conservation practices in watersheds: Do community preferences matter?

This paper focuses on investigating (a) how landowner tenure and attitudes of farming communities affect the preference of individual conservation practices in agricultural watersheds, (b) how spatial distribution of landowner tenure affects the spatial optimization of conservation practices on a watershed scale, and (c) how the different attitudes and preferences of stakeholders can modify the effectiveness of alternatives obtained via classic optimization approaches that do not include the influence of existing social attitudes in a watershed during the search process. Results show that for Eagle Creek Watershed in central Indiana, USA, the most optimal alternatives (i.e., highest benefits for minimum economic costs) are for a scenario when the watershed consists of landowners who operate as farmers on their own land. When a different land-tenure scenario was used for the watershed (e.g., share renters and cash renters), the optimized alternatives had similar nitrate reduction benefits and sediment reduction benefits, but at higher economic costs. Our experiments also demonstrated that social attitudes can lead to alteration of optimized alternatives found via typical optimization approaches. For example, when certain practices were rejected by landowner operators whose attitudes toward practices were driven by economic profits, removal of these practices from the optimized alternatives led to a setback of nitrates reduction by 2–50%, peak flow reductions by 11–98%, and sediments reduction by 20–77%. In conclusion, this study reveals the potential loss in optimality of optimized alternatives possible, when socioeconomic data on farmer preferences and land tenure are not incorporated within watershed optimization investigations.This is the publisher’s final pdf. The article is copyrighted by the American Geophysical Union and can be found at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1944-7973.Keywords: watershed restoration, multiple objectives, conservation practices, social attitudes, optimization, SWA

A HEDONIC ANALYSIS OF PRIVATE HUNTING LAND ATTRIBUTES USING AN ALTERNATIVE FUNCTIONAL FORM

A hedonic framework is used to analyze selected attributes of Louisiana deer hunting leases that are hypothesized to be significant contributors to lease value. The flexible Box-Cox functional form is used in contrast to the often utilized linear regression specification. Additionally, the hypothesis of regional differences in slope coefficients of lease attributes is addressed. Results indicate that hunters in the two analyzed regions value lease attributes and services differently