Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-08T17:38:59.816Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Will Southern Agriculture Play a Role in a Carbon Market?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 April 2015

Kimberly A. Zeuli  and
Jerry R. Skees
Kimberly A. Zeuli
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Kentucky
Jerry R. Skees
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Kentucky
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

While a carbon market offers substantial opportunities for US agriculture, regional differences in such a market are often ignored. This paper focuses on the advantages and challenges for agriculture in the South. The potential of two promising options are analyzed: conversion from cropland to forests and greater use of conservation tillage. It is argued that the right institutional arrangements can overcome three fundamental challenges to an efficient carbon market: transaction costs, risk, and perverse incentives. Some examples are given, such as the use of a farmer-owned organization and the provision of land use and carbon information by the government.

Keywords

Carbon emission reduction (Q25)tradable permitsafforestation (Q23)conservation tillage (Q24)government policy (Q28)regional economics (R00)
Type
Invited Paper Sessions
Information
Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics , Volume 32 , Issue 2 , August 2000 , pp. 235 - 248
Copyright
Copyright © Southern Agricultural Economics Association 2000

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adams, R.M., Adams, D., Callaway, J., Chang, C., and McCarl, B.. “Sequestering Carbon on Agricultural Land: Social Cost and Impacts on Timber Markets.” Contemporary Policy Issues 11(1993):76–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Adams, D.M., Alig, R.J., McCarl, B.A., Callaway, J.M., and Winnett, S.M.. “Minimum Cost Strategies for Sequestering Carbon in Forests.” Land Economics 75 (August 1999):360–374.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alig, R.J., Adams, D.M., and McCarl, B.A.. “Evaluation of Effects of Forestry and Agricultural Policies on Forest Carbon and Markets.” In The Productivity and Sustainability of Southern Forest and Ecosystems in a Changing Environment, eds. Mickler, R.A. and Fox, S.. Ecological Studies v. 47, 1998.Google Scholar
Babcock, B.A. and Pautsch, G.R.. “Relative Efficiency of Sequestering Carbon in Agricultural Soils Through Second Best Instruments.” Paper presented at the Third Toulouse Conference on Environment and Resource Economics—Environment, Energy Uses and Climate Changes, Toulouse, France, 14-16 June 1999.Google Scholar
Barnwell, T.O., et al. “Assessment of Methods, Models, and Databases for Soil Carbon Sequestration Potential for U.S. Agroecosystems.” Unpublished paper, 1992.Google Scholar
Birdsey, R.A. “Carbon Storage and Accumulation in United States Forest Ecosystems.” USDA Forest Service. General Technical Report W0-59 (August 1992).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Birdsey, R.A. and Heath, L.S.. “Carbon Changes in US Forests.” Productivity of America's Forests and Climate Change. GM-GTR-271 (Fort Collins, CO: USDA Forest Service).Google Scholar
Bruce, J.P., Frome, M., Haites, E., Janzen, H., Lal, R., and Paustian, K.. “Carbon Sequestration in Soils.” Journal of Soil and Water Conservation (1999):382–389.Google Scholar
Caspers-Simmett, Jean. “Crop Insurance Company Collects and Sells Environmental Credits on Farmers’ Behalf.” Agri-News.Google Scholar
Day, J., Sandretto, C, McBride, W., and Breneman, V. “Conservation Tillage in U.S. Corn Production: An Economic Appraisal.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Agricultural Economics Association, Salt Lake City Utah, August, 1998, Economic Research Service, US Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC, 1998.Google Scholar
Dick, W.A., et al. “Impacts of Agricultural Management Practices on C Sequestration in Forest-Derived Soils of the Eastern Corn Belt.” Soil and Tillage Research 47(1998):235–244.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dumanski, J., et al. “Possibilities for Future Carbon Sequestration in Canadian Agriculture in Relation to Land Use Changes.” Climatic Change 40(1998):81–103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
The Economist. “Seeing Green,” October 30, 1999.Google Scholar
Environmental Defense Fund. “Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading: The Market Is Moving!” EDF Factsheet. http://www.edf.org/pubs/factsheets/q%5Fbonn%2Dtrading.htmlGoogle Scholar
Feather, P.M. and Cooper, J.. Voluntary Incentives for Reducing Agricultural Nonpoint Source Water Pollution. USDA Economic Research Service Agriculture Information Bulletin Number 716, May 1995.Google Scholar
Fischer, C, Kerr, S., and Toman, M.. “Using Emissions Trading to Regulate U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions: An Overview of Policy Design and Implementation Issues.” National Tax Journal 51(1998):453.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Francl, T. “American Farm Bureau Position on Kyoto Protocol.” Paper presented at Workshop on Climate Change and Agriculture, Washington, DC, Spring 1998.Google Scholar
Hahn, R.W. and Stavins, R.N. “Trading in Greenhouse Permits: A Critical Examination of Design and Implementation Issues.” Shaping National Responses to Climate Change. Washington DC: Island Press, 1995.Google Scholar
Heath, L., Birdsey, R., Row, C., and Plantinga, A.. Carbon Pools and Fluxes in US Forest Products. NATO ASI Series, 1,40(1996):271–278.Google Scholar
Huntington, T.G. “Carbon Sequestration in an Aggrading Forest Ecosystem in the Southeastern USA.” Soil Science Society of America Journal 59(1995):1459–1467.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
IGF Insurance Company Press Release “A New Cash Crop for Agriculture: Iowa Companies to Provide Carbon Emission Reduction Credits to Canadian Power Consortium.” (October 19, 1999). http://www.igfinsurance.com/I_news22.htmGoogle Scholar
Kern, J.S. and Johnson, M.G.. “Conservation Tillage Impacts on National Soil and Atmospheric Carbon Levels.” Soil Science American Journal 57(1993):200–210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lal, R., et al. The Potential of U.S. Cropland to Sequester Carbon and Mitigate the Greenhouse Effect. Ann Arbor, MI: Sleeping Bear Press, 1998.Google Scholar
Lee, H., “Designing Domestic Carbon Trading Systems: Key Considerations.” ENRP Discussion Paper E-98-21. Kennedy School of Government. Harvard University: October 1998.Google Scholar
McCann, R.J. “Environmental Commodities Markets: ‘Messy Versus ‘Ideal’ Worlds.” Contemporary Economic Policy 14(1996):85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCarl, B.A. “Carbon Sequestration via Tree Planting on Agricultural Lands: An Economic Study of Costs and Policy Design Alternatives.” Paper presented at the Energy Modeling Forum, Snowmass, CO (August 3-11, 1998).Google Scholar
McCarl, B.A. and Schneider, U.A.. “US Agriculture's Role in a Greenhouse Gas Emission Mitigation World: An Economic Perspective.” Review of Agricultural Economics (forthcoming).Google Scholar
McCarl, B.A., Gowen, M., and Yeats, T.. “An Impact Assessment of Climate Change Mitigation Policies and Carbon Permit Prices on the US Agricultural Sector.” Report for Climate Change Policies and Programs Division. US EPA. Washington DC 1997.Google Scholar
Moulton, R.J. and Birch, T.W.. “Southern Private Forest Landowners: A Profile.” Forest Farmer 54(1995):44–46.Google Scholar
Moulton, R.J. and Kelly, J.F.. “The Physical Risks of Reforestation as a Strategy to Offset Global Climate Change.” Critical Reviews of Environmental Science and Technology. 27 Special (1997):S245–S257.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moulton, R. and Richards, K.. “Costs of Sequestering Carbon through Tree Planting and Forest Management in the US.” Washington DC: US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Gen. Tech. Rep. WO-58, December 1990.Google Scholar
Office of the Chief Economist, Global Change Program Office, USDA. “Economic Analysis of US Agriculture and the Kyoto Protocol.” http://www.usda.gov/oce/gcpo/Kyoto.pdfGoogle Scholar
Parker, Larry. “Global Climate Change: Market-Based Strategies to Reduce Greenhouse Gases.” October 6, 1999 CRS Issue Brief for Congress 97057.Google Scholar
Paustian, , et al. “Agricultural Soils as a Sink to Mitigate C02 Emissions.” Soil Use and Management (1997) 13, 230–244.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Plantinga, A.J., Mauldin, T., and Miller, D.J.. “An Econometric Analysis of the Costs of Sequestering Carbon in Forests.” American Journal of Agricultural Economics 81 (1999):812–824.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Powell, D.J., Faulkner, P., Zhu, Z., MacCleery, D.. “Forest Resources of the United States, 1992.” USDA Forest Service General Tech. Report RM-234. Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station, Ft. Collins, CO (1993).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
PRNewswire “Cantor Fitzgerald Announces Unique Trade of Greenhouse Gas.” October 19, 1999.Google Scholar
Romm, J.J.Cool Companies: How the Best Businesses Boost Profits and Productivity by Cutting Greenhouse Gas Emissions. Washington DC: Island Press, 1999.Google Scholar
Sandor, R.L. and Skees, J.R.. “Creating a Market for Carbon Emissions: Opportunities for US Farmers,” Choices (1999):13–17.Google Scholar
Sedjo, R.A. and Solomon, A.M.. “Climate and Forests.” Greenhouse Warming: Abatement and Adaptation, eds. Rosenberg, N.J., Easterling, W.E. III, Crosson, P.R., and Darmstadtered, J.. Washington, DC: Resources for the Future (1989):105–117.Google Scholar
Sedjo, R.A., Sohngen, B., and Jagger, P.. “Carbon Sinks in the Post-Kyoto World.” Resources for the Future, RFF Climate Issue Brief #12, 1998.Google Scholar
Stavins, R.N. “The Costs of Carbon Sequestration: A Revealed-Preference Approach.” Forthcoming, American Economic Review.Google Scholar
Totten, M. “Getting it Right: Emerging Markets for Storing Carbon in Forests.” World Resources Institute, 1999. http://www.wri.org/forests/pdf/ftcarbonbro.pdf.Google Scholar
Tweeten, L., Sohngen, B., and Hopkins, J., “Assessing the Economics of Carbon Sequestration in Agriculture.” Paper Presented at the Conference on Assessment Methods for Soil Carbon Pools, Columbus, OH, 2-4 November 1998.Google Scholar
USDA. Agricultural Resources and Environmental Indicators, 1996-1997. Agricultural Handbook No. 712. USDA, ERS, Washington DC (1997a).Google Scholar
USDA. CRP data base http://usda.mannub.cornell.edu/data-sets/land/89003Google Scholar
USDA. “Cropland Use in 1997.” AREI Updates 1997. USDA, ERS, Washington DC (1997b).Google Scholar
USDA. 1997 RPA Assessment: The United States Forest Resource Current Situation. Draft copy.Google Scholar
USDA, Forest Service (1997c). -Summary Report:1997 National Resources Inventory.Google Scholar
USDA, Natural Resources Conservation Service (1997d). US Environmental Protection Agency. Inventory of US Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks:1990-1997).Google Scholar