UNDERSTANDING THE DEMAND FOR FARMLAND PRESERVATION: IMPLICATIONS FOR MICHIGAN POLICIES

The diversity of opinion on farmland preservation suggests that a close look at the issue is warranted as state and local governments consider how best to preserve the state's farmland resource. Public support for farmland preservation programs will be required if those programs are to be successful and will only be forthcoming if there is greater agreement about questions that underlie the policy debate. These questions include whether farmland loss is occurring, whether farmland preservation is needed, how farmland preservation programs should be designed, and what farmland should be preserved. This paper discusses each of these issues, in turn, and describes how current Michigan farmland preservation efforts are or are not addressing them.Land Economics/Use,

FACTORS INFLUENCING SUPPORT FOR RURAL LAND USE CONTROL : A COMMENT

Land ownership characteristics such as the quantity of land owned, quality of land parcels, and location of land describe important dimensions of landed wealth. Landed wealth is expected to be an important factor influencing support for rural land use control. This factor was not discussed in the April (1999) article by McLeod, Woirhaye, and Menkhaus (1999). We suggest that this factor contributes to understanding variation in support for rural land use control.Land Economics/Use,

PUBLIC OPINIONS ABOUT FARMLAND AND FARMLAND PRESERVATION: RESULTS FROM A SURVEY IN KENT COUNTY, MICHIGAN

Retention of agricultural land has become a principal goal for Michigan and its local governments. Purchase of Development Rights is one farmland preservation policy option being considered by many local units of government. Maximizing the benefits from such a program requires an understanding of why the public is interested in farmland preservation. The type and magnitude of benefit will differ depending upon which land is targeted for preservation. This paper reports the results of a survey conducted to ask residents of Kent County, Michigan, what characteristics of farmland are important and how farmland preservation programs should be targeted. The survey also asked whether respondents would support farmland preservation. Results indicate that characteristics of farmland do matter and that support of a farmland preservation program is likely driven by program cost.Land Economics/Use,

Compact Radio Cores in Seyfert Galaxies

We have observed a sample of 157 Seyfert galaxies with a 275 km baseline radio interferometer to search for compact, high brightness temperature radio emission from the active nucleus. We obtain the surprising result that compact radio cores are much more common in Seyfert 2 than in Seyfert 1 galaxies, which at first seems to be inconsistent with orientation unification schemes. We propose a model, involving optical depth effects in the narrow-line region, which can reconcile our result with the standard unified scheme. (Accepted for publication in ApJ 1994 Sep 10)Comment: 21 pages and 7 figures, uuencoded tar-compressed postscript files, ATP18

Quantum Operation Time Reversal

The dynamics of an open quantum system can be described by a quantum operation, a linear, complete positive map of operators. Here, I exhibit a compact expression for the time reversal of a quantum operation, which is closely analogous to the time reversal of a classical Markov transition matrix. Since open quantum dynamics are stochastic, and not, in general, deterministic, the time reversal is not, in general, an inversion of the dynamics. Rather, the system relaxes towards equilibrium in both the forward and reverse time directions. The probability of a quantum trajectory and the conjugate, time reversed trajectory are related by the heat exchanged with the environment.Comment: 4 page

Setting the Standard for Farmland Preservation: Do Preservation Criteria Motivate Citizen Support for Farmland Preservation?

The multifunctional set of services provided by farmland complicates the task of identifying which farmland should be preserved. For this reason many states and local governments establish criteria to rank and select parcels of farmland for protection. This study examines whether criteria commonly used by state programs to guide purchases of agricultural conservation easements influence public demand for farmland preservation. The results provide policy makers with additional information to assess current ranking criteria that set the standard for farmland preservation.Land Economics/Use,

Net Buyers, Net Sellers, and Agricultural Landowner Support for Agricultural Zoning

Agricultural zoning and land use restrictions are long-standing approaches for controlling non-agricultural development. Agricultural landowners may contest agricultural zoning if they expect zoning to reduce land prices on restricted land. However, it is common to find agricultural landowners on both sides of this issue. A prevailing economic explanation for variation in landowner support is that the price effect of zoning varies across land parcels and therefore, zoning may increases the value of some lands zoned for agricultural use. In this paper, we provide an additional explanation for variation in agricultural landowner support. We use the concepts of net buyers and net sellers of land to suggest that the utility effect of changing land prices depends on an agricultural landowner's position in the agricultural land market. Hence, even in situations where all agricultural landowners expect zoning to reduce agricultural land prices, some subset of agricultural landowners - i.e., net buyers - may benefit. Survey data from agricultural landowners is used to model the probability that an agricultural landowner will support agricultural zoning. The empirical findings are consistent with our hypothesis that net buyers and net sellers of agricultural land will differ in their support for agricultural zoning.Land Economics/Use,

Atom detection in a two-mode optical cavity with intermediate coupling: Autocorrelation studies

We use an optical cavity in the regime of intermediate coupling between atom and cavity mode to detect single moving atoms. Degenerate polarization modes allow excitation of the atoms in one mode and collection of spontaneous emission in the other, while keeping separate the two sources of light; we obtain a higher confidence and efficiency of detection by adding cavity-enhanced Faraday rotation. Both methods greatly benefit from coincidence detection of photons, attaining fidelities in excess of 99% in less than 1 microsecond. Detailed studies of the second-order intensity autocorrelation function of light from the signal mode reveal evidence of antibunched photon emissions and the dynamics of single-atom transits.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev.