MTSRF
Project 3.7.5 & 3.7.6
Socio-economic constraints to and incentives for the adoption of land use and management options for water quality
Project Leader: Dr Martijn van Grieken, CSIRO
This study has provided an economic assessment of instruments promoting adoption of land management practices (MPs) by landholders for the Tully Murray catchment in the Wet Tropics. More specifically, the objectives of this study were to determine the private economic consequences of MP adoption, determine the effectiveness of MPs adoption in reducing nutrient supply, and assess the effectiveness of taxes and subsidies to promote the adoption of MPs. Researchers combined a financial analysis of MPs in sugarcane, beef cattle production, banana cultivation and production forestry at the paddock scale and a farm household modelling approach for various types of producers at the farm scale. The results showed that improved nutrient, pesticide and soil management in the sugarcane industry would lead to increased productivity benefits, but at a significant investment cost. Improved practices (ie reduced stocking rates) in the grazing industry would cause a loss of productivity, although in some cases, reductions in stock rates may lead to benefits (through increased gross margins). Researchers then made some predictions about how different types of farmers, or farming agents, will respond to different policy interventions, by developing a typology of farmers in the study area. This has permitted qualitative and quantitative estimation of regional socioeconomic and environmental consequences of implementing a specific policy in terms of local income, employment and nitrogen runoff. The conclusion of this work is that while financial motives are important in explaining adoption of management practices, there are a wide range of other nonfinancial factors explaining the current non-adoption of management practices by a significant number of farmers.
Publications