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Disease resistant crop varieties are important for both disease control and for reducing chemical pesticide use. However, there is often a trade-off between disease resistance and yield. While the European Union has banned the use of some pesticides in agriculture, large amounts are still applied to various crops, including wheat. Market-based instruments could motivate farmers to adopt more environmentally friendly production methods. In this study we aimed to explore farmers' adoption of resistant varieties in different wheat price scenarios and their willingness to forgo yield when cultivating more resistant varieties. We conducted face-to-face interviews with 192 farmers using a choice experiment. Results showed that farmers preferred traits of yield stability (fungal disease resistance, lodging resistance and drought tolerance) over yield. Preferences for traits varied with the production system; livestock production was negatively associated with the importance of yield; cultivated land area was positively associated with protein content. The market price scenario did not change preferences. We calculate that farmers are willing to forgo more yield by cultivating highly disease resistant varieties than they are likely to recuperate from reducing costs of pesticides. Overall, we conclude that farmers' choices are based more on a combination of the production system, drought experience, climate change belief and the potential impact of further regulations to reduce the use of chemical pesticides than on the expected wheat price. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many industries benefit from public biodiversity conservation through the use of genetic resources in R&D processes. The conservation of biodiversity, though, is an under-provided public good. The aim of this paper is to analyze a global mechanism as a policy tool to internalize the positive conservation externalities accruing to commercial users of genetic resources. The United Nations ‘Convention on Biological Diversity’ (CBD) and its ‘Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilisation’ provide a framework for such mechanism. In light of economic arguments in favor of a global mechanism, we study official CBD documents and an online discussion forum launched by the Convention’s Secretariat on a global multilateral mechanism, as well as conduct expert interviews with important political stakeholders on genetic resource trade. We find that the economically preferable instrument of a comprehensive global mechanism is politically not feasible any time soon due to path dependencies and an arguably narrow understanding of national sovereignty. Technological progress in genetic resource use, though, might finally induce countries to establish a confined one in the mid-term future. We provide substantiated findings on countries’ preferences for its scope and modalities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines the relationships between the marginal abatement costs ( MAC) of greenhouse gas ( GHG) emissions on dairy farms and factors such as herd size, milk yield and available farm labour, on the one hand, and prices, GHG indicators and GHG reduction levels, on the other. A two-stage Heckman procedure is used to estimate these relationships from a systematically designed set of simulations with a highly detailed mixed integer bio-economic farm-level model. The resulting meta-models are then used to analyse how MAC vary across farm-level conditions and GHG measures. We find that simpler GHG indicators lead to significantly higher MAC, and that MAC strongly increase beyond a 1-5% emission reduction, depending on farm attributes and the chosen indicator. MAC decrease rapidly with increasing farm size, but the effect levels off beyond a herd size of 40 cows. As expected, the main factors driving gross margins per dairy cow also significantly influence mitigation costs. Our results indicate high variability of MAC on real life farms. In contrast to time consuming simulations with the complex mixed integer bio-economic programming model, the meta-models allow the distribution of MAC in a farm population to be efficiently derived and thus could be used to upscale to regional or sector level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reform of the European Common Fisheries Policy ( CFP) in 2013 decides whether the European fisheries can be put on a sustainable course in the next 10 years. The CFP reform must halt overexploitation of fish resources and stop harm to the marine environment by fishing activities. The European Commission published a reform proposal just recently. This proposal is already an important first step in the right direction, but is under threat of being watered down by the Fisheries Council. Necessary improvements of the current CFP include among others a binding definition of a sustainable stock management, a discard ban for all fish species, transferable fishing concessions and a cessation of all aid for building new vessels. These modifications pave the way for placing micromanagement in the hands of regions and fisheries so as to foster self-responsibility among fishers and give greater consideration to regional circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shows the strong relation between the factors that lead to the resource curse ( RC) and factors that lead to a decline of genuine savings ( GS). There is substantial empirical evidence that economies that rely predominantly on their natural resources are also characterized by slower economic growth. This so-called RC is commonly traced back to the fact that natural resources' generate rents that are independent of a country's economic performance, which can lead to suboptimal reinvestments of this consumed natural capital. We argue that the factors responsible for the RC also have a negative effect on GS, a concept that measures 'weak' sustainable development by considering reinvestment of natural capital rents in physical and human capital. We discuss whether the RC hampers possibilities for resource abundant countries to obtain sufficiently high rates of GS, and find indeed many reasons why resource-dependent countries have problems achieving positive GS rates. We survey both areas of research, emphasizing the influence of the exogenous and endogenous determinants of economic growth, which are usually used to theoretically and empirically explain the RC on the three different forms of capital considered by GS. We specify why most countries suffering from the RC have negative GS rates and explain in detail where the linkages are. This overview could help with potential advancements in the explanation of GS through the inclusion of RC effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Renewable-Energy-Source-Act (EEG) promotes German biogas production in order to substitute fossil fuels, protect the environment and prevent climate change. In this paper we quantitatively analyse the EEG-reform in 2008. Results imply that the reform contributes to an expansion of biogas electricity generation and thus to substitution of fossil fuels. However, subsidies, land and transport emissions per unit of electricity produced increase. An alternative analysis shows that an EEG with tariffs independent from plant-types would provide the highest subsidy-efficiency, lower land requirements and higher transport emissions compared to EEG before its reformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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In the EU, several environmental regulations aim at protecting the environment from agricultural nitrogen and phosphorus losses. The German regulation on farmers' nutrient management, especially implementing the EU Nitrates Directive, was revised in 2017. It comprises considerable tightening of numerous measures and costs for farmers to comply with. We provide the first systematic farm-level analysis of compliance costs of the recent revision in a case study for the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. To do so, we apply a bio-economic optimisation model at farm level to a representative sample of specialized dairy and pig farms. The sample is derived by Latin Hypercube sampling based on the observed distribution of farm characteristics from official agricultural statistics. Modelling results are evaluated by grouping of farms and a statistical meta-model. Results show highly heterogeneous compliance costs reaching from 0 to 2.66 Euro per pig and 0 to 0.83 cent per kg milk. 47.3% of pig and 38.4% of dairy farms do not face any costs. Pig farms with high compliance costs are characterized by high stocking density, the absence of low-emission manure application techniques and phosphorus-enriched soils. Dairy farms with high compliance costs have no low-emission manure application techniques and a high share of grassland. For dairy farms, stricter thresholds for nutrient application do not cause any compliance costs. The meta-model reveals the large effect of prices and assumptions regarding the fertilizer management on compliance costs. Results are of relevance beyond the case study area as other regions in the EU have a similar agricultural structure and need to fulfill the same EU directives. Policymakers need to be aware that high compliance costs increase the incentive of non-compliance and also consider heterogeneous impacts when designing complementary policies. Future research should focus on long-term adaption of farmers and include transaction costs as well as technical progress. • German implementation of the Nitrates Directive was revised in 2017. • On-farm compliance costs are highly heterogeneous between farms. • For pig and dairy farms, existing manure application technique is major cost driver. • Pig farms with high stocking density face costs to lower phosphate surplus. • Sampling approach generates representative farm sample under restricted data access. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]