This study uses optimal control theory to examine the dynamic features of agricultural landscapes characterized by spatial externalites. A stylized system of agricultural production and groundwater flow is used to illustrate how spatial externalities affect land use decisions over time. Policy...

Recent volatility in agricultural commodity prices and projections of world population growth raise concerns about the ability of global agricultural production to meet future demand. This report explores the potential for future agricultural production to 2050, using a model-based analysis that...

Global climate models predict increases over time in average temperature worldwide, with significant impacts on local patterns of temperature and precipitation. The extent to which such changes present a risk to food supplies, farmer livelihoods, and rural communities depends in part on the...

Over the past few decades, conservation programs have provided incentives to farmers to make production decisions that place a priority on environmental improvements in addition to production of commodities (Claassen et al., 2007). More recently, markets have been developed or proposed that...

In this paper, we use a simple urban economic model to study how choosing park locations within a city might contribute towards urban planning goals. For multiple possible park placements, we solve for the associated equilibrium urban structure, including the equilibrium rent gradient, city...

A methodology for evaluating public wetlands conservation investments that considers climate change is developed and applied to Virginia's Elizabeth River watershed. A revised cellular automaton (CA) model is applied to project future land use change. Discrete stochastic sequential programming...