Cost-Responsiveness of Conservation Practice Adoption: A Revealed Preference Approach

While there is current interest in reorienting agricultural policy toward environmental and resource conservation goals, relatively little is known about the influence of cost on conservation adoption decisions or about how farmers combine multiple practices into an overall conservation package. Using farmer survey data combined with information on standard unit installation costs, this study estimates latent demand models for seven on-farm conservation practices. All of the practices exhibit downward-sloping demand. Topographical variations in adoption conform to expectations. The estimation results suggest that cost sharing should have substantial effects on the adoption of several practices, and indicate strong complementarity among others.