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Agri-environmental Schemes (agri-environmental + scheme)
Selected AbstractsUse of Compliance Rewards in Agri-environmental SchemesJOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS, Issue 3 2009Yuki Yano Q12; Q20; Q28; Q57 Abstract Ensuring that farmers comply with the terms of agri-environmental schemes is an important issue. This paper explores the use of a ,compliance,reward' approach under heterogeneous net compliance costs with respect to cost-share working lands programmes such as the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) in the United States. Specifically, we examine the use of a reward under asymmetric information and output price uncertainty. We examine two possible sources of financing under the assumption of budget neutrality: (i) funds obtained by reducing monitoring effort; and (ii) money saved by reducing the number of farmers enrolled. We discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each source of funding and analyse these numerically for both risk-neutral and risk-averse farmers. We also examine the trade-off between increased expenditure on monitoring effort and compliance rewards when additional budgetary resources are available. We show that under certain conditions a compliance reward can increase compliance rates. For risk-averse farmers, however, conditions that ensure a positive outcome become more restrictive. [source] Farm Size Growth and Participation in Agri-environmental Schemes: A Configural Frequency Analysis of the Swiss CaseJOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS, Issue 3 2005Stefan Mann Q15 Abstract This paper examines the relationship between farm growth and participation in agri-environmental schemes, using the example of meadow extensification schemes in Switzerland. As a result of small farm sizes in Swiss agriculture, theory would suggest that economies of scale are considerable for market production activities, so that for growing farms it would be rational to intensify. Configural frequency analysis is used to identify and describe combinations of farm size development and proportion of meadows placed under agri-environmental schemes. In the Swiss case, growing farms are likely to reduce their participation, whereas shrinking farms have a growing share of their meadows under extensification schemes. [source] Effects of landscape structure and habitat type on a plant-herbivore-parasitoid communityECOGRAPHY, Issue 3 2003Andreas Kruess The effects of local habitat and large-scale landscape factors on species diversity and species interactions were studied using the insect community in stems of the creeping thistle Cirsium arvense. Thistle abundance was higher in fallows than in crop fields and field margins, with fallows providing 67% of thistle abundance within 15 study areas on a landscape scale. Species richness of the herbivores was positively related with thistle abundance, parasitoid species richness was influenced by habitat type and was positively correlated with herbivore species richness. The abundance of herbivores and parasitoids was affected by local factors such as habitat type and host abundance, but also by landscape factors such as the percentage of non-crop area and the isolation of habitats. The infestation rate caused by the agromyzid Melanagromyza aeneoventris was positively related to percent non-crop area, whereas the parasitism rate of this fly increased with increasing habitat diversity on the landscape scale. For these two interactions and for total herbivore abundance, a scale-dependency of the landscape effects was found. The results emphasize that biological diversity and ecological functions within a plant-insect community are not only affected by local habitat factors but also by large-scale landscape characteristics. Hence, to improve future agri-environmental schemes for biodiversity conservation and biological control large-scale landscape effects and their scale-dependency should be considered. [source] Do voles make agricultural habitat attractive to Montagu's Harrier Circus pygargus?IBIS, Issue 3 2007BEN J. KOKS Loss and degradation of habitat threatens many bird populations. Recent rural land-use changes in the Netherlands have led to a shift in habitat use by breeding Montagu's Harriers Circus pygargus. Since the 1990s, unprecedented numbers of this species have bred in farmland compared with numbers in natural habitat. Destruction of nests by agricultural operations, however, compromises breeding success. Between 1992 and 2005, the number of breeding pairs in the northeastern Netherlands was positively, though weakly, correlated with previous-year estimated abundance of voles, mostly Microtus arvalis. In good vole years, the onset of laying was earlier and mean clutch size was larger. Vole abundance was relatively higher in set-aside land and in high and dense vegetation. We suggest that agri-environmental schemes aimed at increasing the availability of voles in agricultural breeding areas may be an effective management tool for the conservation of Montagu's Harriers in the northeastern Netherlands. [source] Use of Compliance Rewards in Agri-environmental SchemesJOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS, Issue 3 2009Yuki Yano Q12; Q20; Q28; Q57 Abstract Ensuring that farmers comply with the terms of agri-environmental schemes is an important issue. This paper explores the use of a ,compliance,reward' approach under heterogeneous net compliance costs with respect to cost-share working lands programmes such as the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) in the United States. Specifically, we examine the use of a reward under asymmetric information and output price uncertainty. We examine two possible sources of financing under the assumption of budget neutrality: (i) funds obtained by reducing monitoring effort; and (ii) money saved by reducing the number of farmers enrolled. We discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each source of funding and analyse these numerically for both risk-neutral and risk-averse farmers. We also examine the trade-off between increased expenditure on monitoring effort and compliance rewards when additional budgetary resources are available. We show that under certain conditions a compliance reward can increase compliance rates. For risk-averse farmers, however, conditions that ensure a positive outcome become more restrictive. [source] Farm Size Growth and Participation in Agri-environmental Schemes: A Configural Frequency Analysis of the Swiss CaseJOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS, Issue 3 2005Stefan Mann Q15 Abstract This paper examines the relationship between farm growth and participation in agri-environmental schemes, using the example of meadow extensification schemes in Switzerland. As a result of small farm sizes in Swiss agriculture, theory would suggest that economies of scale are considerable for market production activities, so that for growing farms it would be rational to intensify. Configural frequency analysis is used to identify and describe combinations of farm size development and proportion of meadows placed under agri-environmental schemes. In the Swiss case, growing farms are likely to reduce their participation, whereas shrinking farms have a growing share of their meadows under extensification schemes. [source] Oilseed rape crops distort plant,pollinator interactionsJOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY, Issue 1 2010Tim Diekötter Summary 1. New incentives at the national and international level frequently lead to substantial structural changes in agricultural landscapes. Subsidizing energy crops, for example, recently fostered a strong increase in the area cultivated with oilseed rape Brassica napus across the EU. These changes in landscape structure affect biodiversity and associated ecosystem services. 2. Mass-flowering oilseed rape has been shown to positively affect colony growth and densities of bumblebees, which may enhance pollination services in agroecosystems. Not considered, however, have been species-specific traits of pollinators resulting in disproportionate benefits from these recurrent resource pulses. A subsequent community shift towards the subsidized species potentially distorts plant,pollinator interactions in the surrounding landscape. 3. We analysed the effects of mass-flowering crops on the abundance of legitimate long-tongued bumblebee pollinators, nectar robbing by illegitimate short-tongued bumblebees and seed set in the long-tubed flowers of red clover Trifolium pratense in 12 landscape sectors with differing amounts of oilseed rape. 4. Densities of long-tongued bumblebees visiting long-tubed plants decreased with increasing amounts of oilseed rape. The simultaneous increase of nectar robbing suggests that resource depletion is a likely explanation for this decline which may lead to a distortion in plant,pollinator interactions. The decline in long-tongued bumblebees, however, did not result in an immediate effect on seed set. In contrast, seed set increased with increasing amounts of semi-natural habitats, indicating the positive effects of these habitats on the legitimate long-tongued pollinators. 5.Synthesis and applications. Accounting for species-specific traits is essential in evaluating the ecological impacts of land-use change. The disproportional trait-specific benefits of increasing oilseed rape to short-tongued bumblebees may abet an increasingly pollinator-dependent agriculture but simultaneously threaten the more specialized and rare long-tongued species and their functions. Semi-natural habitats were found to positively affect seed set in long-tubed plants indicating that they can counteract the potentially distorting effects of transient mass-flowering crops on plant,pollinator interactions in agroecosystems. Future agri-environmental schemes should aim to provide diverse and continuous resources matching trait-specific requirements of various pollinators in order to avoid resource competition. Thereby they harmonize the economic interest in abundant pollinators and the conservation interest in protecting rare species. [source] | ||||||||||