Impacts of Spatial Clusters on Certified Organic Farming in Taiwan.

To achieve a balance between agricultural production and environmental protection, organic farming has long been viewed as an alternative for sustainable agricultural development. This study aims to determine the key factors influencing the distribution of organic rice cultivation. Using a unique dataset for the production and environmental characteristics of organic farmland and operations, we assess the impact of spatial clusters, namely cold, hot, and neutral spots, on the certified areas of organic rice. Then, combining the local indicators of spatial association and a multinomial logistic model, we reveal that organic farming is likely to occur in agriculturally less-favored regions, and that improvements in natural productivity is not a favorable incentive for farmers to expand their certified areas. For hot spots, an efficient approach to expand the development of organic farming or certified areas is to increase the scale of agricultural production and marketing groups or even the proportion of individual farmers in operational patterns. Our findings have policy implications for the selection of special regions for organic farming in Taiwan. Further, the analysis of marginal effects provides insight on raising the effectiveness of agricultural sustainability policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]