Managing Environmental Risk at the Rural-Urban Fringe
Marc
Ribaudo
Agriculture is a major source of pollution
that is generated diffusely over a broad land area,
commonly referred to as nonpoint source pollution.
Farmers may be most aware of the links between production
practices and environmental quality when farming
operations are conducted in close proximity to nonfarm
populations. Residential development is expanding
farther into rural areas, while market conditions
are encouraging farmers to intensify production.
These conditions set the stage for conflicts at
the rural-urban fringe over environmental concerns,
particularly for problems relating to animal operations.
Current Federal policies for protecting
water quality from agricultural nonpoint sources
of pollution rely almost entirely on the voluntary
adoption of conservation practices by farm operators,
supported by publicly provided education, technical,
and financial assistance. In this setting, farmers
are most likely to adopt best management practices
based on their private benefits rather than society’s.
Nuisance suits, public complaints, or local ordinances
regarding farm practices can alert farmers about
their impact on environmental quality and encourage
them to adopt conservation practices such as nutrient
management.
Farmers can protect themselves
from conflicts over environmental quality by adopting
“approved” management practices. A nutrient
management plan is a management-intensive practice
that reduces the risks of water quality impairments
from nutrients. Operating with a nutrient management
plan could help insulate a farm against citizen
complaints over water quality degradation, both
by reducing the severity of degradation and by demonstrating
due diligence. About 11 percent of corn acres planted
in 2000 was covered by a nutrient management plan.
Detailed analysis of corn farms
suggests that potential for increased conflict between
working farms and suburban and exurban populations
increases the use of nutrient management plans.
The potential for conflict was measured with a rural-urban
interaction variable based on the “population-interaction
zones for agriculture” (PIZA) index developed
by ERS. The higher the variable’s score, the
greater the influence that urban-related activities
have on agriculture’s economic and social
environment. The analysis shows a significantly
higher probability of using a nutrient management
plan in areas with a higher rural-urban interaction
score.
The finding suggests that States
could accelerate the adoption of nutrient management
and other conservation practices at the rural-urban
fringe by specifying which practices provide evidence
that farmers are operating with due care and adequately
protecting water quality. The results also suggest
that, in rural areas where interaction with the
nonfarming community is less likely, other approaches
for encouraging the adoption of water quality-protecting
practices may be necessary.
This
finding is drawn from . . . |
| Conservation-Compatible
Practices and Programs: Who Participates?
by Dayton Lambert, Patrick Sullivan, Roger
Claassen, and Linda Foreman, ERR-14, USDA,
Economic Research Service, February 2006.
“Behind
the Data: Population Interaction Zones for
Agriculture,” by Charles Barnard,
in Amber Waves, Volume 3, Issue 3,
USDA, Economic Research Service, June 2005. |
|
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