Assessing the recreational demand for agricultural land in Finland

It is widely assumed that the scenic attractiveness and other public good aspects of agricultural land can be utilized as a source of livelihood in rural areas in the form of recreation and tourism. In this study we use two approaches to consider whether agricultural landscapes are preferred as a destination for recreation (day trips) and rural tourism (overnight trips). We first analyse the choice of recreation site type based on a model that aggregates sites using the presence of agricultural land as an aggregation variable. Population survey data on recreation trips reveal an association between the respondent’s living environment, recreational activities and visit characteristics and the probability of choosing a destination with agricultural land. Second, we also estimate the demand functions for trips to agricultural sites and other destination types to consider whether the presence of agricultural land, as opposed to other land use categories, increases the number of trips and the benefits of recreation. The results suggest that agricultural landscapes are inferior to alternative site types in terms of per-trip benefits. However, agricultural landscapes are associated with high annual benefits because of the high rate of visitation

Discerning welfare impacts of public provision of recreation areas

This study presents a framework for investigating responses to the supply of public recreation opportunities when supply affects both probability of use and frequency of use days. These components are used to estimate the marginal social net benefits of an exogenous increase in the supply of public recreation opportunities. The study investigates distributional patterns of visiting behavior and benefit estimates for alternative supply strategies, i.e., reduced distance or increased acreage. The results indicate that the probability of participation and the number of use days respond differently to alternative supply strategies and that response varies by income group.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

User fees, equity and the benefits of public outdoor recreation services

The paper addresses the question of who benefits from public recreation areas. Employing a set of survey data from users and nonusers of state-owned recreation and conservation areas in Finland, we derive two measures for distributional analysis. The first, the income elasticity of willingness to pay for recreation services, indicates that public provision of recreation benefits lower-income groups more than higher-income groups. The second, a welfare measure including efficiency loss, reveals ambiguous impacts depending on the level of the fee implemented. Low fee levels decrease recreation visits among lower-income users, whereas high fees reduce the welfare level of higher-income users in particular.Consumer surplus; Income; Income elasticity; Willingness to pay

Water recreation benefits from reduced eutrophication in Finnish surface waters

Eutrophication has been commonly acknowledged as a typical problem of the Baltic Sea, but it is also emerging in Finnish inland waters. As municipal sources of nutrients have been addressed by enhancing waste water treatment, the pressure has focused to agriculture along with the adoption of the EU- Water Framework Directive, which aims to improve surface water quality to “good ecological status” by 2015. The implementation of the directive will likely affect water recreation behavior and benefits. In this study we modeled water recreation participation and water quality econometrically using a hurdle model for three activities: swimming, fishing and boating. In addition, we estimated the consumer surplus for a water recreation day using a travel cost approach. We found that close-to-home water quality affects swimming and fishing behavior positively, and that for a 1-meter improvement in water clarity, consumer surplus for swimmers would increase at a range between 32 to 97 million Euros, and for fishers by 43 to 130 million Euros. In comparison with previously estimated costs of decreasing agricultural nutrient flow to the Gulf of Finland, we found that net benefits may be positive.Water recreation, non-market valuation, eutrophication, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Landowner response to policies regulating land improvements: lease or search for other options?

Land improvements with long pay-back periods are often delayed on leased agricultural land, resulting in social costs through land degradation, decreased land productivity and environmental problems. An important question is thus how landowners would respond to regulations and mandates concerning land improvements. Based on a landowner survey, we analyse landowner choices under certain land improvement regulations, using the currently dominant choice of leasing land for agricultural use as the benchmark. The results indicated that land leasing will continue to increase in the future, but if the landowner mandate to co-finance costly land improvements is increased, landowners are predicted to respond significantly to these mandates and search for other land management options. Three heterogeneous landowner groups were identified based on their land use choices. Current leasers and amenity owners, in particular, were sensitive to land improvement mandates, and would avoid compulsory investment expenses by selling or afforesting their land.contingent behaviour, latent class model, landlord, land use, heterogeneity, Land Economics/Use, Q15, Q24, Q28,

Fiscal and trade distorting effects of capital gains tax on land sales - empirical evidence from agricultural land market in Finland

capital gains, taxes, land, trade, fiscal effects, Agricultural Finance, Financial Economics, Land Economics/Use,

The proximity of a field plot and land-use choice: implications for land consolidation

Traditional methods in agricultural economics and agricultural engineering have yielded mixed results when specifying the costs of an unfavourable parcel structure. Concepts related to travel costs and the production function are frequently applied when the costs of farming distant parcels are examined. However, farmers’ perspective regarding preferences for land use is ignored or partly overlapped by predictions made by researchers. Based on applied econometric models fitted to stated preference data, we revealed that the proximity of a field plot is a relevant factor affecting land-use decisions. One-fourth of landowners would change the use of a field plot if the condition of distance was changed. Landowners would continue farming a field plot if its distance from the farm compound was reduced, being willing to accept on average €79 less in net income per ha per year. The effect of a greater proximity of field plots to the farm compound following land consolidation was heterogeneous, particularly depending on the farm size and its location.land use options, distance factor, land consolidation, choice experiment, multinomial logit model, random parameters model., Land Economics/Use,

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