Irrigation water pricing: differential impacts on irrigated farms

European water policy, as set out in the Water Framework Directive (WFD), requires all EU Member States to implement volumetric water pricing at rates that roughly cover the total costs of providing water services. The objective of this paper is to develop a methodology that, for the different types of farm in an irrigable area, will enable us to analyse the differential impact that a pricing policy for irrigation water would have. For this purpose, Multi-Attribute Utility Theory (MAUT) mathematical programming models were used. The methodology is implemented on a representative area in the Duero Valley in Spain. Our results show the usefulness of differential analysis in evaluating the impact of a water pricing policy. This allows significant differences in the evolution of agricultural incomes to be observed, as well as the recovery of costs by the State, demand for agricultural employment and the consumption of agrochemicals resulting from rising prices of irrigation water in various groups of farmers within a given irrigated area.     

农业水价政策对农户种植结构的影响——以新疆地区为例

为了缓解用水危机,提高用水效率,中国正在推进农业水价综合改革,试图建立以水权交易为核心的水价制度。本文根据作物的亩均灌溉用水量将作物划分为高耗水作物和低耗水作物,利用新疆天山北麓5县(含2个团场和3个县)的农户调查数据,对比分析实施统一水价、阶梯水价、水权交易水价3种水价政策区域内农户的种植结构,探索农民在不同水价政策下的种植决策,并进一步验证价格信号对农户种植选择的影响。研究发现,由于水费收取方式和水价不同,实施不同的水价政策对农户的种植结构产生了不同的影响。与其他水价政策相比,水权交易水价更能促使农户选择更为节水的作物。不同水价政策下水的定价是影响农户选择种植结构的关键要素,当农户灌溉用水的机会成本增加时,他们会增加低耗水作物的种植比例。每亩低价水定额对农户选择种植低耗水作物有非线性的影响,当每亩低价水定额超过一定数量时,定额进一步增加会导致农户减少种植低耗水作物。     

Spot water markets and risk in water supply

Water availability patterns in semiarid regions are typically extremely variable. Even in basins with a highly developed infrastructure, users are subject to unreliable water supplies, incurring substantial economic losses during periods of scarcity. More flexible instruments, such as voluntary exchanges of water among users, can help users to reduce risk exposure. This article looks at the effects of spot water markets on the economic risk caused by water availability variations. Our theoretical and empirical risk analyses are based on the random profits of water users. Profit probability density functions are formally and graphically characterized for both water sellers and buyers under several possible market outcomes. We conclude from this analysis that, where water supply is stochastic, water markets unambiguously reduce both parties' risk exposure. The empirical study is conducted on an irrigation district in the Guadalquivir Valley (Southern Spain), where there is a high probability of periods of extreme water scarcity. Water demand functions for the district representative irrigators and a spatial equilibrium model are used to simulate market exchanges and equilibrium. This programming model is combined with statistical simulation techniques. We show that the profit probability distribution of a representative irrigator is modified if water exchanges are authorized, leading to risk reductions. Results also indicate that if the market were extended to several districts and users that are subject to varying hydrological risk exposure, extremely low‐profit events would be less likely to occur. In sum, we show that exchanging water in annual spot markets can reduce farmers' economic vulnerability caused by water supply variability across irrigation seasons. These results support the water policy reform carried out in Spain in 1999 to allow for voluntary water exchanges among right holders.     

An Empirical Analysis of the Relative Efficiency of Policy Instruments to Reduce Nitrate Water Pollution in the U.S. Southern High Plains

This paper develops a modeling framework for evaluating alternative water quality protection policies. The framework integrates the EPIC-PST crop growth/chemical transport model and a mathematical programming model. The framework is applied to the evaluation of four water quality policies in the southern high plains of the United States:
• restrictions on per-acre nitrogen use,
• taxes on nitrogen use,
• taxes on irrigation water use, and
• incentives to convert conventional irrigation systems to modem irrigation technology. The results indicate that producers would make a variety of adjustments in responding to these policies. Important responses might include reductions in nitrogen and water use, crop substitution, removal of land from crop production and conversion from irrigated to dryland production. These four policies are evaluated based on changes in farm income and social welfare. The irrigation system conversion incentive clearly outperforms other policies from both society's and producers points of view. Producers would prefer nitrogen use restrictions to nitrogen or water use taxes because farm income would be reduced less under the restrictions than under the taxes. Nitrogen use taxes, however, are more desirable than nitrogen use restrictions from society's point of view.     

资源禀赋对农户黑土地保护行为的影响研究

目的 国家高度重视东北黑土地保护与利用问题，明晰农户黑土地保护行为影响因素是用好养好黑土地的重要议题。文章旨在探讨资源禀赋对农户黑土地保护行为的影响，从资源禀赋视角推动农户黑土地保护行为。方法 基于黑龙江省兰西县312份经营农户调研数据，运用二元及多元有序Logistics模型，探究人力资源、自然资源、经济资源、社会资源及信息资源等资源禀赋对农户黑土地保护行为影响。结果 农户是否采用黑土地保护技术受人力资源禀赋（黑土地保护责任义务认知、黑土地保护收益预期），自然资源禀赋（自有承包地面积、是否签订承包合同、是否转入黑土地、经营黑土地细碎化程度），经济资源禀赋（农业收入、家庭总收入），社会资源禀赋（是否加入合作社、是否参与土地托管）和信息资源禀赋（政府是否宣传黑土地保护政策、是否为中心村）的显著正向影响；上述因素除黑土地保护收益预期、自有承包地面积、是否转入黑土地、经营黑土地细碎化程度、农业收入、是否为中心村外均对农户黑土地保护技术采纳程度具有显著正向影响。结论 为更好地推动农户黑土地保护行为，应强化农户黑土地保护“责、权、利”认识，提高农业收益预期；进一步稳定承包权，建立健全土地经营权流转市场；因地制宜发展黑土区特色产业，切实提升农户家庭收入；支持多元主体协同发展，推进黑土地保护工程；发挥中心村信息资源优势，多渠道开展黑土地保护政策宣传。     

Smallholder cooperatives and agricultural performance in Rwanda: do organizational differences matter?

Agricultural policies in Rwanda focus on agricultural intensification and increased market orientation of the smallholder farm sector. Cooperatives are seen as key vehicles in this, but little is known about their effectiveness to achieve these goals. In this article, we analyze the impact of cooperative membership on the agricultural performance of rural households in Rwanda. We use cross‐sectional survey data, collected in 2012, to analyze the impact of cooperative membership on different agricultural performance indicators, including indicators on agricultural intensification, market orientation, farm revenue, and income. We use several econometric techniques to deal with potential selection bias in estimating the impact of cooperative membership, including a proxy variable method based on a willingness to pay measure and propensity score matching methods. We find that cooperative membership in general has a positive impact on farm performance but these effects are driven by specific types of cooperatives.     

收入不确定性对节水技术采用动态决策的影响研究——来自政府推广模式的调节

[目的]农户节水技术采用的长效机制对保障长期粮食安全、促进农业可持续发展具有重要意义。[方法]文章基于粮食主产区微观调研数据,衡量农户家庭收入风险,运用Heckman样本选择模型实证分析收入不确定性对农户节水技术初步采用与持续采用行为决策的影响,进一步考察不同政府推广模式在其中的调节效应。[结果]收入不确定性增加会降低农户持续采用节水技术的意愿,不利于节水技术的长期应用,政府推广对农户节水技术持续采用行为具有正向激励作用;从调节效应来看,收入不确定性对农户节水技术持续采用的负向影响可通过政府补贴和技术培训的调节缓解,其中以灌溉基础设施补贴为典型的政府节水补贴发挥了积极作用。[结论]要降低农村居民家庭收入风险,保持农业政策的延续性和稳定性,加强节水教育和技术培训,同时完善配套服务体系,推动农业生产长效节水。     

An empirical assessment of the value of irrigation water: the case study of Murrumbidgee catchment*

Evaluation of value of irrigation water is essential for supporting policy decision making relating to investments in the irrigation sector, efficient allocation of irrigation water and water pricing and for crafting policies to compare the variable impacts of water reform within and across sectors of the economy. This paper asks the question of how much an established irrigator would pay for water and at what price farmers planning to expand the area they have under irrigation would consider paying for the right to access water. An analytical framework is developed to estimate the net present value of both annual and perennial agricultural activities in the Murrumbidgee catchment. Using these estimates the total value of water used in Murrumbidgee catchment is estimated. An aggregate water supply curve is derived for the catchment from where water may be acquired from irrigators for environmental flows.     

Future Changes in British Agriculture: Projecting Divergent Farm Household Behaviour

The recent decline in farm incomes has focused attention on farmers' uneven propensity to adjust and adapt. Changes in farm policies are slowly redirecting the support paid to farmers in Europe, and further reforms are envisaged. This paper argues that farmers in Britain are likely to pursue highly diverse strategies in this changed context, according to their individual circumstances, values and attitudes. These groups (essentially ideal types) are derived both from in‐depth qualitative interviews and from a cluster analysis of variables relating to the farm and to the farm household's socialisation and attitudes. The paper seeks to draw out the implications of divergent farm household behaviour for future structural change, and for agricultural and rural policy. Opportunities are identified for the UK government to implement the EU Rural Development Regulation in ways that would suit the varied circumstances of British farmers in the postproductivist transition.     

鄂尔多斯市黄河南岸灌区农业水价改革实例分析

以内蒙古自治区鄂尔多斯市黄河南岸灌区农业水价改革为例,分析灌区农业水价改革的必要性和影响,并提出确定农业初始水权,构建农业水价形成机制,建立农业用水精准补贴和节水奖励机制以及健全完善灌区量水设施等改革措施。     

Neither State nor Market: The Influence of Farmers' Organizations on Agricultural Policies in Costa Rica

In recent decades, policies in many countries have been shaped by the implementation of economic liberalization, characterized by state withdrawal from marketing operations and control of trade. In this era of liberalization, policies regulating commodity marketing and trade were expected to disappear, but, in fact, this has hardly occurred. A comparative study is carried out of three farm sectors in Costa Rica, based on a dynamic analysis of behaviour in the context of the institutional change brought about by liberalization. The capacity of farmers' organizations to adapt and contribute to institutional change through their control over economic activity and their participation in policymaking processes is highlighted. In so doing, it is shown that, even in a liberalized era, policies regulating marketing and trade still exist and affect the functioning of agricultural markets. These policies differ according to the farm sector and can be linked directly to the influence of farmers' organizations within these sectors. It is shown that organizations play a key role in the regulation of farm sectors, and that their success depends on the institutional and organizational “thickness” to which they have contributed in each sector. Differences in historical trajectories can explain differences in the capacity of organizations to influence policymaking and to gain market share.     

Risk preference and optimal enterprise combinations in Kahuro division of Murang'a district, Kenya

Financing smallholder farming has been one of the major concerns of Kenya's agricultural development efforts. Many credit programs have evolved over the years but with dismal performance. In a study that sought to find the best way to finance smallholder agriculture, it became necessary to analyze and document, in the first place, the farmers' preferred enterprise patterns. Any financial innovations would hence address the preferred patterns. Of particular interest was the effect of risk preference on such patterns, which had been ignored in many previous farm management studies. Murang'a district was chosen as a typical smallholder district. Sample farmers, obtained through cluster sampling, were visited and structured questionnaires administered to cover farm events and physical resources of short rains 1995 to long rains 1996. This formed a basis for formulating the farm patterns. A quadratic programming model was used to analyze observed farm plans. The model incorporates farmers' risk preferences, revenue fluctuations, and resource and subsistence restrictions. The results showed that: (1) changes in risk preference do affect the optimal crop combinations; (2) the typical cropping pattern is rational as the farmer meets both food and cash under modest variability of income; (3) insisting on producing most subsistence food requirements by the farmers reduces efficiency and limits the feasible plans.     

Climate-resilient practices and welfare impacts on rice-cultivating households in Vietnam: Does joint adoption of multiple practices matter?

Farmers have a long history of adjusting their production practices in response to changing production conditions. Using a multinomial endogenous treatment effects model that accounts for observable and unobservable heterogeneity, this study investigates the adoption and welfare impacts of climate-resilient practices on Vietnamese rice-cultivating households. We found evidence of clear and positive welfare impacts from the adoption of canal irrigation (CI) and the joint adoption of agricultural conservation practices (CP) and CI as the main adaptation strategies to increase water stress. More importantly, although farmers with access to CI systems obtained the highest returns, the joint adoption of multiple practices still had substantially high adoption rates and significantly positive effects on rice yield, rice revenue and household income. Our findings indicate that farms' and farmers' characteristics, market information and climatic conditions are generally the main factors driving rice farmers' decisions to adopt climate-resilient technologies, both individually and jointly. Follow-up policy interventions should focus on improving CI systems and promoting the joint adoption of climate-resilient technologies to improve rice farmers' well-being and enhance their resilience capacity to cope with incoming climatic uncertainty.     

农业用水非农化对农户粮食生产用水行为的影响基于山东省728份农户调查数据

目的 农户作为微观经营主体,其节水技术的采用将提高粮食生产用水效率,达到节约水资源与保证粮食生产的双重目的。通过分析农户粮食生产用水行为,探讨水资源短缺约束对农户粮食生产技术采用的诱致效应。方法 文章基于2019年对山东省728份农户的调查问卷数据,以农户行为理论为基础,综合运用统计分析、Logit模型等方法,对农业用水非农化约束下农户的粮食生产用水行为进行分析。结果 在农业用水非农化态势下,作为理性经济人的农户倾向于采用节水技术,以保证粮食生产。农户年龄、家庭农业劳动力人数、灌溉水源与灌溉方式对其节水技术的采用影响显著为负,农业年收入、小麦及玉米种植面积对农户节水技术的采纳行为影响显著为正。结论 规模化经营是大型节水设施应用的基本条件,应当加快农地流转,推进粮食生产规模化经营,提高粮食灌溉的规模化和标准化水平;同时加快建立科学合理的农业水价改革制度,促进农民节约农业用水,以此实现水资源利用效率提高与粮食生产能力稳定的双重目标。     

新型城镇化对农民收入的影响效应研究基于30个省（市、自治区）面板数据的实证分析

目的 通过人口的城镇化率、土地的城镇化率、经济的城镇化率、就业的城镇化率这4个自变量综合考察新型城镇化对农民收入的直接影响效应和间接影响效应并提出推进新型城镇化建设促进农民增收的建议。方法 文章运用空间杜宾模型,收集近10年我国30个省（市、自治区,不含港澳台、西藏）的相关数据分析新型城镇化对农民收入的影响。结果 新型城镇化通过人口的城镇化、土地的城镇化、经济的城镇化对农民收入产生显著正向的直接效应,且通过经济的城镇化产生显著负向的间接效应,而就业的城镇化对农民收入影响效应不显著;新型城镇化对农民收入的直接效应主要还是由人口的城镇化产生,但也不能忽视土地城镇化和经济城镇化促进农民增收的作用;控制变量中农业经济水平、农村资本投入、对外开放程度、工业化率对农民收入具有显著正向的直接效应,且农村资本投入对农民收入具有显著正向的间接效应。结论 建议政府大力发展农业现代化,促进城乡一体化;盘活农村土地资源,加快农村城镇化;拓宽农民就业渠道,缩小城乡差别。     

From fork to farm: Impacts of more sustainable diets in the EU-27 on the agricultural sector

The implications of dietary changes for the environment and for human health are well documented, but the impacts on the agricultural sector are less well researched. We fill this gap by specifying scenarios in which European consumers' diets approximate the EAT-Lancet dietary recommendations to varying degrees and estimate the effects on agricultural production, incomes and emissions using an agro-economic modelling framework. The combination of different models allows for a detailed assessment of consequences for the agricultural sector from the global through European NUTS2 level to the farm level at different time scales. Shifting European consumption towards the EAT-Lancet recommendations leads to decreasing production of animal-based products, while production of fruits and vegetables increases sharply. The results indicate that the agricultural sector could benefit from a dietary shift, though the results are mixed at country, regional and farm levels. In particular, countries and regions that are highly specialised in animal farming are likely to lose income—at least in the short run—while regions with higher shares of vegetable and fruit farms can expect income gains. In Germany, pig and poultry farms may experience losses of up to 34% of their income, whereas farms with a high share of vegetables could gain more than 30% in income. Our results have implications for the policies to assist these extensive structural adjustments in response to widespread dietary changes.     

On the way out: Government revenues from fossil fuels in Australia

Australia is moving from a fossil fuel-dominated energy mix to one that is increasingly powered by solar and wind. Fossil fuel exports are also likely to decline given their poor compatibility with the net zero emission targets of key trading partners. There is the potential for a variety of new exports of zero carbon energy and products to emerge. This paper reviews implications of the ongoing energy transition for government revenues from fossil fuel extraction and use and discusses policy options in response. It concludes that the transition heightens the need for efficient government revenue-raising mechanisms across the economy. Among the possible reforms, this paper reviews the potential for Australia's corporate income tax to be reoriented towards the taxation of above-normal profits via an allowance for corporate equity approach. Other revenue-raising options that are discussed include carbon pricing, electronic road user pricing, wider use of progressive royalties, the use of industry levies as applied in Australia's agricultural sector, and the generation of revenue from government co-investments.     

Multiple job holdings among dairy farm families in New York and Ontario

Previous empirical studies of multiple job holding have tended to focus on the characteristics of those obtaining off-farm employment and the factors affecting the hours supplied to those obtaining off-farm activities. None of these studies have explicitly addressed the reasons behind the decision to seek off-farm employment. Neither have they been able to examine in-depth the important issue of how this major component of the farm sector responds to alternative policies, since most studies have used cross-sectional data for a given region. A comparison between countries would permit the analysis of how multiple job holding responds to differing government policies. The purpose of this paper is to examine the reasons for and factors affecting multiple job holdings of dairy farm families in neighboring regions of two counties, United States and Canada. The bordering regions of New York and Ontario have similar geographic conditions but significantly different farm support and social service policies. The results indicate the importance of farm income on why people work off the farm and provide evidence of multiple job holding as a flexible mechanism for coping with changes in the economic environment facing the household. For operators, the driving characteristics influencing off-farm labor participation is the farm's financial position. The supply-managed milk marketing system ensures higher and more stable returns for Ontario dairy farm labor. In contrast, it is family demographics, educational level and social support policy that appears to largely influence spousal off-farm employment decisions. Free medical care in Ontario lowers the reservation wage for household members. The effect of these farm and social support policies on the relative returns to labor in agriculture and non-farm employment explains the lower participation rate and hours supplied in off-farm work by both operators, and hours supplied in off-farm work by both operators and spouses in Ontario dairy farm household.     

Coping with drought with innovative pricing systems: the case of two irrigation water management companies in France

In recent years, France has been facing particularly severe drought periods especially in summer. In a country where agriculture is the largest water user, some irrigation management companies have implemented innovative pricing systems to handle this situation. The objective of this article is to analyze the impact of these new management systems on farmers’ incomes, the revenue of the management companies, and the amount of water used. To do that, we develop a methodology using a stochastic model that simulates the representative farmer's optimal behavior in a context of climatic variability. An empirical application is made with a crop growth model and data collected from the Midi‐Pyrenees region. The results show that using these specific nonlinear pricing systems allow irrigation water managers to reduce the impact of drought on production. Moreover, the type of pricing implemented depends on the characteristics and capabilities of the water company. More particularly, these pricing systems can be used to anticipate agricultural water demand in order to avoid imbalance with water availability.     

新疆新型农业经营主体空间分异测度与分析

[目的]新型农业经营主体,是新型农业经营体系的重要组成部分。对新疆主要新型农业经营主体,即农民专业合作社、农业产业化龙头企业和家庭农场发展的现状、空间分异规律进行系统分析,对推动新疆农业经营主体健康发展、制定扶持政策和缩小地区间差异具有重要指导意义。[方法]该研究采用泰勒指数法,以各地区农业人口数作为权数,分别运用各类新型农业经营主体的数量、平均经营收入两项指标从不同角度测度新疆经营主体空间分异现象。[结果](1)地带内部差异仍是构成规模总体差异的主要部分,且地带内部差异占总体差异的比重家庭农场最大(89%),龙头企业次之(70%),农民专业合作社最小(66%)。(2)2006年以来新疆农民专业合作社、龙头企业在南、北、东疆区域间的发展趋于平衡,但各区域内部发展不均衡的问题凸现出来。(3)新疆家庭农场平均经营能力地区间差异大于农民专业合作社的,且两类经营主体经营能力的空间分异明显大于规模的。(4)农业产业化龙头企业的经营能力最强,农民专业合作社居中,家庭农场最弱。各区域同类经营主体经营能力差距也很显著。南、北疆农民专业合作社经营能力较强,而东疆的家庭农场经营能力较强。[结论]目前新疆新型农业经营主体空间分布差异较大,各级政府必须加快推进各区域均衡发展。