Agricultural nonpoint source pollution and water quality trading: empirical analysis under imperfect cost information and measurement error

Abstract

Water quality problems associated with agricultural nonpoint-source pollution remain significant in the majority of US watersheds. In this dissertation, I present a theoretical model of water quality that captures the main characteristics of agricultural pollution (the unobservability and the interactions between the field-level emissions, the imperfect knowledge of the abatement costs), propose and empirically estimate a simplified proxy model for the complex process that characterizes the fate and the transport of agricultural pollutants, and apply this model in a variety of empirical studies to evaluate alternative policy programs designed to improve water quality. Under a linear approximation of the abatement function, more flexible policies like the performance standard or trading program may outperform a command-and-control program in

The Optimality of Using Marginal Land for Bioenergy Crops: Tradeoffs between Food, Fuel, and Environmental Services

“…Although numerous studies have provided estimates of carbon sequestration for these crops and conservation practices, concern arises regarding the consistency and suitability of those estimates for the Boone River watershed. Valcu (2013) used Environmental Policy Integrated Climate (EPIC) Model simulations to obtain carbon sequestration estimates for no-till and cover crops in the watershed but did not estimate carbon sequestration for switchgrass and miscanthus. We use estimates from Follett et al (2012) in which a field experiment was used to measure carbon sequestration by switchgrass.…”

Cost-effectiveness of reverse auctions for watershed nutrient reductions in the presence of climate variability: An empirical approach for the Boone River watershed

“…In the second case, for reduced fertilizer and land retirement (CRP), we use different cost estimates for each field. The source of cost variation in the cost for reduced fertilizer is explained in Valcu (2013). For land retirement, we multiply the CSI with the cash rental rate per CSI.…”

“…Additionally, each watershed scenario is evaluated under each climate scenario, including the current climate. Following the procedure described by Valcu (2013), the point coefficients are estimated via ordinary least square regression. In short, we use SWAT simulation results to estimate a system of point coefficients via…”

“…The point values assigned to each abatement practice approximate (1) how effective an abatement practice is in reducing the edgeof-field emissions, and (2) the impact of the edge-of-field reduced emissions on the ambient (downstream) water quality (Rabotyagov et al 2013;Valcu 2013). To estimate the system of points, we use the methodology described and used by Rabotyagov et al (2014).…”

“…The cost of reduced fertilizer was obtained by using an implied yield curve for a corn-soybean rotation, with yield being a function of the amount of applied fertilizer. The cost of reducing fertilizer by 10% was determined by evaluating the reduced yield and then by subtracting the savings from applying less fertilizer (Valcu 2013). The costs of combined management practices is obtained by adding the individual cost for each management practice.…”