This presentation provides comparative analysis of agricultural holdings in Estonia based on the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) data. The FADN data for reference years 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003 have been analysed. The FADN data analyses showed, that there are very big differences in the structure of the agricultural holdings. Individual farms represent ca 92% of the total population of agricultural producers but at the same time their part in total production attains less than 50% according to the FADN data for year 2003.

This article solves and characterizes optimal decision rules to invest in irreversible land improvements conditional on land tenure insecurity. Economic model is a normative dynamic programming model with known parameters for the one period returns and transition equations. The optimal decision rules for liming are solved numerically, conditional on alternative scenarios on the likelihood that the lease contract and, thus, farmer access to land is either renewed or expired. The model parameters represent Finnish soil quality and production conditions.

Controlling Russian knapweed with an integrated system of herbicide followed by seeding perennial grass is profitable in yielding an 8.7% average rate of return, and repaying the establishment costs in approximately six years. Moreover, the system is sustainable by exploiting plant competition and eliminating herbicide usage in later years.

We estimate a system-of-equations model designed to measure the interaction between intertemporal patterns of changes in population, employment, and agricultural land densities. The model is applied to West Virginia for the 1990-1999 period. Consistent with recent findings on migration patterns, the results show that jobs followed people. New jobs were captured by commuters, while agricultural land losses were occurring in the commuters' counties of origin or bedroom communities.

Numerous theoretical approaches to farmland leasing contract choice have been developed with little consistent empirical support, particularly for the Corn Belt. A unique theoretical approach to explaining farmers' lease preferences is presented, using a combination of transaction cost economics and property rights theory. Results demonstrate that both transactional and certain producer characteristics are important motivators of contract choice.

Most land management policies, such as land retirement, have multiple objectives. This study uses a cellular automata simulation model to explore how various spatial characteristics of land parcels on a hypothetical landscape contribute to the efficacy of land retirement in the presence of multiple retirement objectives-– hydrological improvement, habitat improvement, and cost. Statistical analysis of the simulation results is used to tie particular spatial characteristics back to achievement of the three distinct objectives.

Cotton farmers in the Piedmont region incorrectly believe conservation systems with winter cover crop and no-till cultivation yield less than conventional systems. We model the effect of organic matter on productivity and show how ignoring this effect causes returns to be underestimated. Farmers with imperfect information underinvest in residue management.