PESTICIDE TAX, CROPPING PATTERNS, AND WATER QUALITY IN SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS

The impact of an ad valorem pesticide tax on cropping patterns and pesticide use was examined in the South Central Texas Crop Reporting District. Output supply equations were econometrically estimated and used in the simulation. A 25 percent tax on pesticide was estimated to have major impacts on cropping patterns and on pesticide use. Assuming other input and output prices were unaffected, the supply of one important crop would fall by more than half. Demand for some of the highly soluble and persistent pesticides, which present the greatest threat to groundwater quality, would also decrease substantially (some as much as 50 percent).