AgEcon Search: Research in Agricultural and Applied Economics collects, indexes, and electronically distributes full text copies of scholarly research in the broadly defined field of agricultural economics including sub disciplines such as agribusiness, food supply, natural resource economics, environmental economics, policy issues, agricultural trade, and economic development.
The majority of items in AgEcon Search are working papers, conference papers, and journal articles, although other types such as books chapters and government documents are included. AgEcon Search will serve as the permanent archive for this literature and encourages authors and organizations to use this electronic library as the storehouse for additional appropriate scholarly electronic works.
AgEcon Search is co-sponsored by the Department of Applied Economics and the University Libraries at University of Minnesota and the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
The site has received encouragement and financial support from:
Agricultural Economics Reference Organization
Agricultural and Applied Economics Association
European Association of Agricultural Economists
Farm Foundation
International Association of Agricultural Economists
USDA Economic Research Service
AgEcon Search is part of the University of Minnesota's Digital Conservancy, which provides stewardship, reliable long-term access, and broad dissemination of the digital scholarly and administrative works of the University of Minnesota faculty, departments, centers and offices.
Papers and articles downloaded from AgEcon Search may be used for non-commercial purposes and personal study only. No other use, including posting to another Internet site, is permitted without permission from the copyright owner, or as allowed under the provisions of Fair Use, U.S. Copyright Act, Title 17 U.S.C.
AgEcon Search does not hold the copyright to articles, working papers, conference papers, or other materials available in the database. Copyrights may be held by any of the following: individual authors, multiple authors, organizations, institutions, or publishers.
History
AgEcon Search began in 1995 as an experiment to see if it were possible to use the internet to archive, index and deliver on demand, full text working papers produced by university agricultural economics departments. The first papers were from agricultural economics departments at Minnesota and Wisconsin. These early papers predated the World Wide Web and were mounted on a GOPHER server in WordPerfect format. The project was (and still is) a cooperative project of the University of Minnesota Libraries, the Department of Applied Economics at the University of Minnesota and the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA). The Farm Foundation and the Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture provided financial support in the beginning of the project. Patricia Rodkewich and Louise Letnes managed AgEcon Search until Patricia's retirement in 2001, when Julie Kelly joined the AgEcon Search team. Erik Biever also served on the original AgEcon Search team, providing valued technical services and guidance. The members of the Agricultural Economics Reference Organization endorsed the efforts of AgEcon Search early on and have been instrumental in expanding the use of AgEcon Search in their respective institutions.
Since its inception AgEcon Search has operated as a distributed network, with each institution designating a member of their organization to submit papers on their behalf. With this model, costs for maintaining the system were kept low and institutions do not have to pay membership fees for participation. In the cases where an institution had no central person to act as the network member, a fee has been charged for AgEcon Search staff to submit papers. The first organization to choose this option was the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, which since 1997 has been contracting with AgEcon Search to post its annual conference papers.
Members:
Resources
Displaying 106 - 110 of 376Perception of Land Scarcity by Peri-Urban Farmers
Farmers in peri-urban regions face many problems, among which land scarcity is a major one according to literature. However, as indicated by a survey among farmers in the peri-urban region around Brussels, land scarcity is not perceived as a problem by all farmers to the same extent.
Landscape Assessment via Regression Analysis
This paper presents a methodology for assessing the visual quality of agricultural landscapes through direct and indirect techniques of landscape valuation. The first technique enables us to rank agricultural landscapes on the basis of a survey of public preferences. The latter weighs the contribution of the elements and attributes contained in the picture to its overall scenic beauty via regression analysis. The photos used in the survey included man-made elements, positive and negative, agricultural fields, mainly of cereals and olive trees, and a natural park.
FARM PROGRAM PAYMENTS AND FARM SIZE
A simultaneously determined model for farm size and government payments along with the incorporation of a recursive impact of government payments and agricultural returns was used to examine farm size changes nationally and regionally. The results clearly demonstrated resource substitution influences, differences in the nonfarm economy, and agricultural returns in explaining farm size.
Risk Management Instruments for Water Reallocations
Federal and state governments are searching for programs and/or policies to deal with the risks linked with uncertainty in water supplies and demands. Within the United States, competition among agricultural, urban, and environmental concerns for water is increasing. Drought conditions and water use restrictions have, at times, limited water supplies for these varied uses. The federal government stands in a unique position as both a major supplier and demander of water. As such, the federal government has put forward several programs for water conservation, information, and usage.
Marginality and Restoration of Olive Plantations in Andalusia
This paper presents the first results of the initial stages of a three years research project on optimization of the use of agricultural lands subject to risk of abandonment. After devising a physical marginality index for olive cultivation based on soil quality and slope, we estimate an approximate area of 200,000 hectares of marginal olive plantations in Andalusia. The risk of abandonment of these farmlands increases with the decoupling of the CAP subsidies and with the socio-economic characteristics of the production.