Mark Brady
Policy officer
Improving agricultural pollution abatement through result-based payment schemes
Author
Summary, in English
Action-based payments that compensate farmers for adopting land-management measures to preserve and en- hance the environment have been criticized for being ineffective. The root of the problem is that farmers are not paid for achieving a desired environmental benefit, but compensated for their costs of management. There is growing interest in formulating result-based economic incentives. By paying for an environmental benefit and allowing flexibility in how to achieve it, farmers are given an incentive to exploit their comparative advantages for achieving a desired environmental benefit cost-effectively. However, the feasibility and relative effectiveness of result-based payments for reducing agricultural pollution is contentious. In this study, we designed and evaluated a result-based payment scheme for nonpoint-source pollution abatement from arable land. In a case study in southern Sweden, the cost-effectiveness of the new scheme was compared with that of an existing action-based scheme for vegetated buffer strips to prevent the pollutant, particulate phosphorus, from reaching water resources. The results suggest that result-based payment schemes based on modeled outcomes of pollution abatement are feasible and will considerably improve cost-effectiveness compared to action-based schemes, by relocating buffer strips to where they are more effective and not simply where they have the lowest costs for farmers.
Department/s
- Centre for Environmental and Climate Science (CEC)
- BECC: Biodiversity and Ecosystem services in a Changing Climate
- Biodiversity
- AgriFood Economics Centre, SLU
- Biodiversity and Conservation Science
Publishing year
2018-05-08
Language
English
Pages
209-219
Publication/Series
Land Use Policy
Volume
77
Links
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Elsevier
Topic
- Agricultural Science
- Environmental Sciences
Keywords
- Performance based policy
- Nonpoint source pollution
- Nutrient runoff
- Buffer strip
- Agri-environmental scheme
- Cost-effective
Status
Published
Research group
- Biodiversity and Conservation Science
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 0264-8377