Agriculture and the environment: A new strategic vision

Environment

Volumn 40, Issue 6, 1998, Pages

  Ervin, David E ^b   Runge, C Ford ^a,c   Graffy, Elisabeth A ^a,d   Anthony, Willis E ^a,e   Batie, Sandra S ^a,f   Faeth, Paul ^a,g   Penny, Tim ^a   Warman, Tim ^a,h  

^a David E Ervin   (United States)

^b Henry A Wallace Inst A   (United States)

^c UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA   (United States)

^d U S GEOLOGICAL SURVEY   (United States)

^e Minnesota Corn Res and Prom Cncl   (United States)

^f MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^g WORLD RESOURCES INSTITUTE   (United States)

^h American Farmland Trust   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

AGRICULTURE; ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT; ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT; ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION; POLICY; REVIEW; UNITED STATES; WASTE MANAGEMENT;

EID: 0344936072     PISSN: 00139157     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/00139159809604594     Document Type: Review

References (73)

1. S. Batie, Soil Erosion: Crisis in America's Cropland? (Washington, D.C.: Conservation Foundation, 1983), 5-7.
2. J. P. Kalt, "The Impact of Domestic Environmental Regulatory Policies on U.S. International Competitiveness" (discussion paper presented at the Harvard Energy and Environmental Policy Center, March 1985); and C. F. Runge, "Environmental Impacts of Agricultural and Forestry Subsidies" (background paper for a workshop on subsidies and the environment held by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, Paris, November 1995).
3. J. P. Kalt, "The Impact of Domestic Environmental Regulatory Policies on U.S. International Competitiveness" (discussion paper presented at the Harvard Energy and Environmental Policy Center, March 1985); and C. F. Runge, "Environmental Impacts of Agricultural and Forestry Subsidies" (background paper for a workshop on subsidies and the environment held by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, Paris, November 1995).
4. See J. G. Arbuckle et al., Environmental Law Handbook, 12th ed. (Rockville, Md.: Government Institutes, Inc., 1993); and P. Faeth, "Sustainability and U.S. Agriculture: Problems, Progress, and Prospects," in R. Dower et al., eds., Frontiers of Sustainability: Environmentally Sound Agriculture, Forestry, Transportation, and Power Production (Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 1996).
5. See J. G. Arbuckle et al., Environmental Law Handbook, 12th ed. (Rockville, Md.: Government Institutes, Inc., 1993); and P. Faeth, "Sustainability and U.S. Agriculture: Problems, Progress, and Prospects," in R. Dower et al., eds., Frontiers of Sustainability: Environmentally Sound Agriculture, Forestry, Transportation, and Power Production (Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 1996).
6. The Delaney clause prohibited even trace amounts of carcinogenic chemicals in processed foods (but not fresh foods). See C. Benbrook, Pest Management at the Crossroads (Yonkers, N.Y.: Consumers Union, 1996). Chronic exposure to hormone-disrupting chemicals, a category that includes many pesticides, is thought to harm humans and wildlife during their prenatal and early postnatal stages. See T. Colbom et al., "Developmental Effects of Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals in Wildlife and Humans," Environmental Health Perspectives 101, no. 5 (1993): 378.
7. The Delaney clause prohibited even trace amounts of carcinogenic chemicals in processed foods (but not fresh foods). See C. Benbrook, Pest Management at the Crossroads (Yonkers, N.Y.: Consumers Union, 1996). Chronic exposure to hormone-disrupting chemicals, a category that includes many pesticides, is thought to harm humans and wildlife during their prenatal and early postnatal stages. See T. Colbom et al., "Developmental Effects of Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals in Wildlife and Humans," Environmental Health Perspectives 101, no. 5 (1993): 378.
8. C. Osteen and P. Szmedra, Agricultural Pesticide Use Trends and Policy Issues, AER 622 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1989).
9. R. Heimlich, "Wetlands and Riparian Areas: Economics and Policy," Encyclopedia of Agricultural Science (San Diego, Calif.: Academic Press, 1994).
10. Office of Technology Assessment, Targeting Environmental Priorities in Agriculture: Reforming Program Strategies (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1995). For more on this report, see the review by Clive Potter in the September 1996 issue of Environment.
11. Office of Technology Assessment, Targeting Environmental Priorities in Agriculture: Reforming Program Strategies (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1995). For more on this report, see the review by Clive Potter in the September 1996 issue of Environment.
12. M. Ribaudo, "Managing Agricultural Non-Point Source Pollution: Are Stales Doing the Job?" in D. Southgate, J. Hammonds, and M. Livingston, eds., Devolution of Environmental Policy (Columbus, Ohio: Resource Policy Consortium, Ohio State University, 1997).
13. Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Resources and Environmental Indicators: Agricultural Handbook 712 (Washington, D.C., 1997), 90-91.
14. Ibid., page 1.
15. Agricultural Statistics Board, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Annual Crop Summary (Washington, D.C., 1995).
16. L. J. Puckett, Nonpoint and Point Sources of Nitrogen in Major Watersheds of the United States, U.S. Geological Survey Water Resources Investigation Report 94-4001 (Reston, Va.: U.S. Geological Survey, 1994); and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Water Quality Inventory: 1994 Report to Congress, EPA-841-R-95-005 (Washington, D.C., 1995).
17. L. J. Puckett, Nonpoint and Point Sources of Nitrogen in Major Watersheds of the United States, U.S. Geological Survey Water Resources Investigation Report 94-4001 (Reston, Va.: U.S. Geological Survey, 1994); and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Water Quality Inventory: 1994 Report to Congress, EPA-841-R-95-005 (Washington, D.C., 1995).
18. R. A. Smith, G. E. Schwarz, and R. B. Alexander, Regional Estimates of the Amount of Land Located in Watersheds with Poor Water Quality, U.S. Geological Survey Open File Report 94-399 (Reston, Va.: U.S. Geological Survey, 1994).
19. R. B. Alexander, R. A. Smith, and G. E. Schwarz, The Regional Transport of Point- and Nonpoint-Source Nitrogen to the Gulf of Mexico (Reston, Va.: U.S. Geological Survey, 1996); and N. Rabelais, R. E. Turner, and W. J. Wiseman Jr., "Hypoxia in the Northern Gulf of Mexico: Past, Present, and Future," available at http://pelican.gmpo.gov/nutrient/front.html.
20. R. B. Alexander, R. A. Smith, and G. E. Schwarz, The Regional Transport of Point- and Nonpoint-Source Nitrogen to the Gulf of Mexico (Reston, Va.: U.S. Geological Survey, 1996); and N. Rabelais, R. E. Turner, and W. J. Wiseman Jr., "Hypoxia in the Northern Gulf of Mexico: Past, Present, and Future," available at http://pelican.gmpo.gov/nutrient/front.html.
21. Alexander et al., note 14 above.
22. R. A. Smith, R. B. Alexander, and G. E. Schwarz, "Quantifying Fluvial Interstate Pollution Transfers" (unpublished paper available from the U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Va., 1996).
23. Although these are the best data available at the national level, they are based on incomplete surveys (only 17 percent of U.S. rivers, 42 percent of U.S. lakes, and 78 percent of U.S. estuaries were surveyed) and cannot be compared over time. See U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, note 12 above.
24. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, note 12 above.
25. Economic Research Service, note 9 above.
26. D. K. Mueller and D. R. Helsel, Nutrients in the Nation's Water: Too Much of a Good Thing?, U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1136 (Reston, Va., 1996).
27. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Pesticide Survey Phase I Report, EPA 570/9-90-003 (Washington, D.C., 1990).
28. J. E. Barbash and E. R. Resek, Pesticides in Groundwater: Distributions, Trends, and Governing Factors (Ann Arbor, Mich.: Ann Arbor Press, 1996).
29. R. Gilliom, Pesticides in the Nation's Water Resources: Initial NAWQA Results (Reston, Va.: U.S. Geological Survey, 1997).
30. Transformation products are compounds that arise from the breakdown of pesticides due to exposure to sunlight, water, and biological and other forces after those pesticides have been applied to crops.
31. See J. Opie, Ogallala: Water for a Dry Land (Lincoln, Neb.: University of Nebraska Press, 1993); and S. E. White, "Who Should Manage the High Plains Aquifer?," Water Resources Bulletin 31, no. 4 (1995): 715.
32. See J. Opie, Ogallala: Water for a Dry Land (Lincoln, Neb.: University of Nebraska Press, 1993); and S. E. White, "Who Should Manage the High Plains Aquifer?," Water Resources Bulletin 31, no. 4 (1995): 715.
33. K. D. Frederick, "Water Resources," in R. N. Sampson and D. Hair, eds., Natural Resources for the 21st Century (Washington, D.C.: American Forestry Association, 1990), 143.
34. Economic Research Service, note 9 above.
35. National Research Council, Pesticides in the Diets of Infants and Children (Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1993), 1.
36. National Research Council, Regulating Pesticides in Food: The Delaney Paradox (Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1987), 14.
37. According to the National Research Council, infants and children differ "both qualitatively and quantitatively from adults in their exposure to pesticide residues in food" and thus require a different sort of risk assessment. National Research Council, note 28 above, page 4.
38. J. H. Cushman Jr., "Factions in House Unite on Changing Pesticide Control," New York Times, 18 July 1996, A1.
39. Economic Research Service, note 9 above. The values given are for active ingredients.
40. G. Whittaker, B.-H. Lin, and U. Vasavada, "Restricting Pesticide Use: The Impact on Profitability by Farm Size," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics 27, no. 2 (1995): 352.
41. Integrated crop management uses pest scouting (human inspection to detect excess pests), soil testing, and similar techniques to avoid excessive use of toxic compounds. See M. A. Altieri et al., Agroecology: The Science of Sustainable Agriculture (Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1995).
42. Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) is a microbial organism that kills insects by lethal infection.
43. Office of Technology Assessment, note 7 above, pages 17-23.
44. See F. Knopf, "Avian Assemblages on Altered Grasslands," Studies in Avian Biology 15 (1994): 247; and F. Samson and F. Knopf, "Prairie Conservation in North America," BioScience 44, no. 6 (1994): 418.
45. See F. Knopf, "Avian Assemblages on Altered Grasslands," Studies in Avian Biology 15 (1994): 247; and F. Samson and F. Knopf, "Prairie Conservation in North America," BioScience 44, no. 6 (1994): 418.
46. P. C. Mankin, "Agricultural Land Use and the Eastern Cottontail in Illinois" (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1993).
47. A. W. Allen, Regional and State Perspectives on Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) Contributions to Wildlife Habitat (Washington, D.C.: Fish and Wildlife Service, 1993); and A. Berner, "Wildlife and Cropland Retirement Programs," in Soil and Water Conservation Society, When Conservation Reserve Contracts Expire: The Policy Options (Ankeny, Iowa, 1994), 70-74.
48. A. W. Allen, Regional and State Perspectives on Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) Contributions to Wildlife Habitat (Washington, D.C.: Fish and Wildlife Service, 1993); and A. Berner, "Wildlife and Cropland Retirement Programs," in Soil and Water Conservation Society, When Conservation Reserve Contracts Expire: The Policy Options (Ankeny, Iowa, 1994), 70-74.
49. A. W. Allen, "Wildlife Habitat Enhancement," in Soil and Water Conservation Society, note 39 above, pages 18-20.
50. D. H. Johnson and M. D. Schwanz, "The Conservation Reserve Program and Grassland Birds," Conservation Biology 7, no. 4 (1993): 934.
51. R. Johnson, E. Ekstrand, J. R. McKean, and K. John, "Economics of Wildlife and the CRP," in Soil and Water Conservation Society, note 39 above, pages 45-51.
52. D. N. Duvick, "Biology, Society, and Food Production: New Concepts, Old Realities" (unpublished manuscript, 1996).
53. E. C. Large, The Advance of the Fungi (New York: Dover Publications, 1962).
54. R. Tripp and W. van der Heide, "The Erosion of Crop Genetic Diversity: Challenges, Strategies, and Uncertainties," Natural Resource Perspectives 7 (1996): 1.
55. Duvick, note 43 above, page 7.
56. E. A. Thompson, A. A. Sorensen, J. Harlan, and R. Greene, 'Farming on the Edge': A New Look at the Importance and Vulnerability of Agriculture near American Cities (Washington, D.C.: American Farmland Trust, 1994); and American Farmland Trust, Alternatives for Future Urban Growth in California's Central Valley: The Bottom Line for Agriculture and Taxpayers (Washington, D.C., 1995).
57. E. A. Thompson, A. A. Sorensen, J. Harlan, and R. Greene, 'Farming on the Edge': A New Look at the Importance and Vulnerability of Agriculture near American Cities (Washington, D.C.: American Farmland Trust, 1994); and American Farmland Trust, Alternatives for Future Urban Growth in California's Central Valley: The Bottom Line for Agriculture and Taxpayers (Washington, D.C., 1995).
58. See, for example, S. A. Wolf and P. J. Nowak, "A Regulatory Approach to Atrazine Management: Evaluation of Wisconsin's Groundwater Protection Strategy," Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 51, no. 1 (1996): 94.
59. T. Davies and J. Mazurek, Industry Incentives for Environmental Improvement: Evaluation of U.S. Federal Initiatives (Washington, D.C.: Global Environmental Management Initiative, 1996).
60. Office of Technology Assessment, note 7 above.
61. See M. Ribaudo, note 8 above.
62. FAIR divorced commodity subsidies from particular crops, thus removing the incentives that had favored fertilizer- and pesticide-intensive crops such as corn. The legislation did not end such subsidies outright, however, leaving that decision to Congress in 2002.
63. C. F. Runge, "Environmental Protection from Farm to Market," in M. Chertow and D. Esty, eds., Thinking Ecologically: The Next Generation of Environmental Policy (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1997).
64. S. Batie and D. Ervin, Business-Led Environmental Management: The Next Generation of Policy? (East Lansing, Mich.: Department of Agricultural Economics, Michigan State University, forthcoming.)
65. D. Ervin and A. Schmitz, "A New Era of Environmental Management in Agriculture?," American Journal of Agricultural Economics 78 (1996): 1,198.
66. See Office of Technology Assessment, note 7 above; and Office of Technology Assessment, Agriculture, Trade, and the Environment: Achieving Complementary Policies, OTA-ENV-617 (Washington, D.C., 1995).
67. Economic Research Service, note 9 above. Technically, conservation tillage is any tillage or planting system that covers 30 percent or more of the soil surface with crop residues after planting to reduce soil erosion by water. For wind erosion, the system must maintain at least 1,000 pounds of flat, small-grain residue equivalent on the surface. On the benefits of conservation tillage, see D. B. Baker, "Herbicide Concentrations in Ohio's Drinking Water Supplies: A Quantitative Assessment," in D. L. Weigmann, ed., Pesticides in the Next Decade: The Challenges Ahead (Blacksburg, Va.: Virginia Water Resources Center and Virginia Polytechnic Institute, 1990); and L. B. Best, "Impacts of Tillage Practices on Wildlife Habitat and Populations," in Farming for Better Environment (Ankeny, Iowa: Soil and Water Conservation Society, 1995).
68. Economic Research Service, note 9 above. Technically, conservation tillage is any tillage or planting system that covers 30 percent or more of the soil surface with crop residues after planting to reduce soil erosion by water. For wind erosion, the system must maintain at least 1,000 pounds of flat, small-grain residue equivalent on the surface. On the benefits of conservation tillage, see D. B. Baker, "Herbicide Concentrations in Ohio's Drinking Water Supplies: A Quantitative Assessment," in D. L. Weigmann, ed., Pesticides in the Next Decade: The Challenges Ahead (Blacksburg, Va.: Virginia Water Resources Center and Virginia Polytechnic Institute, 1990); and L. B. Best, "Impacts of Tillage Practices on Wildlife Habitat and Populations," in Farming for Better Environment (Ankeny, Iowa: Soil and Water Conservation Society, 1995).
69. W. N. Musser et al., "An Economic Analysis of the Pre-Sidedress Nitrogen Test for Pennsylvania Corn Production," Review of Agricultural Economics 17, no. 1 (1995): 25.
70. G. W. Norton and J. Mullen, Economic Evaluation of Integrated Pest Management Programs: A Literature Review, Virginia Cooperative Extension Publication 448-120 (Blacksburg, Va., 1994).
71. D. E. Ervin, "A New Era of Water Quality Management in Agriculture: From Best Management Practices to Watershed-Based Whole Farm Approaches," Water Resources Update, no. 101 (1995): 18.
72. See R. L. Liberty, "Oregon's Comprehensive Growth Management Program: An Implementation Review and Lessons for Other States," Environmental Law Reporter 22 (1992): 10,367.
73. Office of Technology Assessment, note 7 above, pages 174-91. International linkages such as trade agreements complicate the design of agro-environmental policies, raising concerns about maintaining competitiveness and sharing the costs of protecting the environment globally. Nonetheless, there is growing recognition that liberalized trade and improved environmental management are complementary objectives if cost-effective environmental policies are in place.