| Abstract: | Claims for the general economic benefits of soil maps as planning tools have remained largely unsubstantiated. This study offers a method of assessing the value of the information provided by a soil map. Its value depends on the quality of the map, and on the difference in payoffs between alternative management practices. Using only data normally available to agricultural planners, the value of a map may be calculated before its survey. The problem is one of decision-taking under uncertainty. A computer programme has been compiled to calculate the benefit from soil surveys of differing quality and is applied to data from a peach-growing area in Australia. |
