Empirical Evidence of Public Preferences for Farmland Preservation

摘要: The environmental amenities provided by farmland are receiving increased attention among policymakers in the United States and Europe. Historically, farmland has been valued primarily for its productive capability. In Europe, intensification of agricultural land use has led to increased agricultural production and a decline in landscapes associated with more traditional, extensive farming activities (Slangen, 1992; Pruckner, 1995; Hackl and Pruckner, 1996). In the United States, increased competition for environmental amenities generates conflicts between farm and nonfarm activities near urbanized areas (Gardner, 1994). As amenities such as wildlife habitat, scenic vistas and cultural values have become scarcer relative to food and fiber in developed countries, public concern has shifted from increasing agricultural production toward protecting and enhancing the quality of the rural environment (Bromley and Hodge, 1990).Environmental amenity values may be characterized as nonmarket values, because residents and farmers usually cannot purchase or sell amenities in market transactions. Some farmers in France offer farm workshops and operate bed-and-breakfast inns, but farm tourism is not yet widespread (Cavailhes et al., 1994). Some amenities, such as wildlife habitat and scenic vistas, also can be described as public goods because they are not diminished by the number of residents" consuming" them. Conflicts can arise between private and public interests when the decisions of landowners fail to provide socially optimal amounts of environmental amenities (Slangen, 1992). Public policies can mitigate these conflicts by encouraging …