Market-based systems for reducing chemical use in agriculture in the United States

This study uses a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model of the U.S. economy to estimate the economic effects of agricultural fertilizer and pesticide input reductions on individual farm sectors, and on the economy as a whole. The costs of reducing agricultural chemicals using a market-based approach and a command-and-control approach are compared. The real cost to society of restrictng fertilizer and pesticide use by 20-percent across all uses is estimated to be $2.3 billion. A market-based approach that would provide incentives to reduce chemical use in the most cost efficient manner would be about 10-percent less costly. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 1995