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Government Policy, Wind Erosion, and Economic Viability in Semi-Arid Agriculture: The Case of the Southern Texas High Plains

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 April 2015

Julie A. Bunn
Julie A. Bunn*
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, Macalester College, St. Paul, Minnesota
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Abstract

The 1996 farm bill challenges agricultural producers to pursue conservation objectives while allowing flexibility and reducing subsidies. The nature of this challenge for semi-arid rainfed, wind-erosion-prone agriculture is explored via a behavioral model. Simulations of farm-firm decision making under scenarios in the southern Texas High Plains are evaluated. Results indicate that the removal of subsidies, while lowering farm incomes, does not, under most assumptions, alter cropping system choice. Alternatively, under a variety of assumptions, the imposition of an erosion tax shuts down cropping.

Keywords

conservation practicescropping system choiceeconomic dynamicsFAIR Act of 1996
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics , Volume 30 , Issue 2 , December 1998 , pp. 339 - 351
Copyright
Copyright © Southern Agricultural Economics Association 1998

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