| The Environmental Benefits of Well-Managed Farmland |
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The Environmental Benefits of Well-Managed Farmland
Center for Agriculture in the Environment; Dekalb, IL: American Farmland Trust; Center for Agriculture in the Environment Working Paper; page(s) 186; 2005; National; Reports and Studies
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Abstract:
This report addresses the costs and benefits of different land-use patterns on the
environment and how sound agricultural management practices may produce tangible
environmental benefits. Various categories of land use - urban, agricultural and natural
lands - affect water, soil and air quality, along with biodiversity in different and
interconnected ways. While the costs of urban land use to the environment are well known,
the benefits that agricultural land use may offer to the environment are less well
documented. It is the contention of this report that well-managed farmland, using sound
agricultural conservation practices, not only will neutralize many of the environmental
problems caused in the past, but that positive environmental benefits - either in the form of
good externalities or public goods - will be produced as a result. While the environmental
costs of agriculture are easier to measure, the benefits produced by well-managed farmland
are more difficult to ascertain yet not impossible to approximate. The real difficulty
remains in determining how much to fairly reimburse farmers for implementing and
maintaining conservation practices that produce ascertained environmental benefits.
The report addresses the costs to the environment of agricultural land use and the
environmental and monetary benefits of sound agricultural management practices. These
benefits include improving the quality of water, air and soil, carbon sequestration, retaining
and promoting biodiversity by working landscapes practices, producing fresh fruits, grains,
vegetables, oils low in saturated fats, dairy, lean meat and other highly nutritious foods,
raising land values by adopting conservation measures, and farmland amenities – a public
good that has become increasingly significant and valuable, both to the urban population
and to farmers. For effective conservation policy analysis and implementation, we need
ways to document the environmental benefits of farmland. The report addresses recent
attempts to identify agri-environmental and agri-biodiversity indicators by examining a
sample of U.S. and international models that have produced a number of indicators that are
relevant to the environmental benefits of farmland. By promoting the use of such
environmental indicators, we hope that future policy measures - programs and subsidies -
will be informed by a more accurate account of the environmental benefits of well-managed
farmland.
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