Redistribution of Direct Payments to Permanent Grasslands: Intended and Unintended Impacts

Hecht, Judith; Moakes, Simon; Offermann, Frank

doi:10.1111/1746-692x.12099

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 4 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Existing ex‐ante impact evaluations of direct payments for grassland without concentrate feed restrictions also show an extension of the grassland area and number of dairy cows in Switzerland (Hecht et al ., ). However, these studies show that direct payments for grassland lead to an increase in the milk supply with negative effects on milk prices, whereas they find no effect on the amount of concentrate feed.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, since Switzerland is one of the first countries to implement an agri‐environmental programme based on the ecological consistency strategy that is conditional on feeding restrictions, our analysis also fills a gap in the literature on the evaluation of policy instruments intended to support grassland‐based milk and meat production. In particular, we can discuss the effects of direct payments for grassland conditional on environmental regulations when compared to the effects of market‐based policy measures such as concentrate taxes (Hecht et al ., ) or unconditional area payments (Hecht et al ., ). Since the recent abolition of milk quotas may have similar effects on the use of concentrate supplementation in EU dairy production, the conclusions drawn in this paper might be of particular interest to policy‐makers in the European Union (EU).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Short‐ and Long‐Run Policy Evaluation: Support for Grassland‐Based Milk Production in Switzerland

Mack¹,

Köhler²

2018

J Agricultural Economics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Following the abolition of the milk quota in 2008, farmers in Switzerland strongly increased the use of concentrate feed in milk production. Against this background, the Swiss government introduced the voluntary grassland‐based milk and meat (GMF) programme in 2014, which combines economic incentives with feeding restrictions to reduce the reliance on concentrate feed and increase the use of grass feed. We analyse the economic and ecological impacts of the GMF programme at the farm and at the sector level in the short‐ and long‐run. We use a difference‐in‐differences approach (ex‐post) and an agent‐based simulation model SWISSland (ex‐ante) to construct counterfactual states to evaluate the programme's impacts. We find that the GMF programme reduces the use of concentrate feed and increases the use of grass feed in Swiss milk production. Whereas the programme has a positive effect on economic indicators such as the farm income, we find no effect on ecological indicators such as the N surplus. Our analysis suggests that feeding restrictions on concentrate feed are not enough to achieve a reduction in the N surplus. Additional feeding restrictions on grassland are necessary. Furthermore, the GMF programme has a dampening effect on sectoral milk supply, and leads to a higher milk price.

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Short‐ and Long‐Run Policy Evaluation: Support for Grassland‐Based Milk Production in Switzerland

Mack¹,

Köhler²

2018

J Agricultural Economics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Regulations on working conditions in agriculture have been sidelined throughout the world despite the importance of reducing overworking, including at family farms (International Labor Organization, 2015, etc.). Alternatively, it has been shown, both theoretically and empirically, that with the understanding of taxpayers, the implementation of direct payments to farms reduces labor pressure (Caraveli, 2000;Hecht et al, 2016).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Working conditions and labor flexibility in non-family farms: weather-based labor management by Japanese paddy rice corporations

Yagi

Hayashi

2021

IFAM

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Improving working conditions in agriculture is of great concern throughout the world. Just as in other industries, many young farm workers prefer to work as salaried employees, which has brought attention to non-family farms as providers of employment opportunities. However, in the presence of a strong need to flexibly respond to weather, there is still difficulty regarding whether workplaces without overworking can exist. This study is based on in-depth surveys of non-family rice farms in Fukui Prefecture, Japan. Our findings suggest that even in non-family farms, holiday-setting is done flexibly to account for weather, and systems that allow for harvesting at appropriate times are in place. During the busy farming period, in joint-stock farms, where multiple farmers invest together, full-time employees work overtime. In contrast, in community farms, many community residents take turns for working, which allows work to be done on time. A closer analysis of work records shows that, in either organizational structure, specific members need to overwork. Reasons behind this include issues with sunk costs in the form of monthly wages, lack of skills among part-time employees, and the communication costs of coordinating with many part-time employees.

show abstract

“…The intensity of grassland use determines the provision of these services and the associated trade-offs (Le Clec'h et al 2019;Baronti et al 2022). Policy measures, economic and climatic boundary conditions as well as structural change affect the provision of these services over space and time (Brookfield 2001;Hecht et al 2016;Brunner et al 2017;Malek et al 2019). However, the link between policy changes and land use changes over both time and space is not often considered (Tappeiner et al 2003;Hinojosa et al 2019;Bruley et al 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatio-temporal dynamics of grassland use intensity in Switzerland

et al. 2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Land use intensity determines the provision of multiple important ecosystem services of agriculture. In Switzerland, agricultural policy developments have aimed and still aim to extensify agricultural systems and especially grassland use. We here provide a spatial and temporal analysis of changes in grassland use intensity and discuss them in the context of agricultural policy developments to assess potential policy impacts. We use farm-level census data over a period of 19 years. Spatio-temporal patterns of in- and extensification are investigated visually and by global and local Moran’s I measures. We find that while average changes in grassland use intensity are small, there is a substantial increase in the heterogeneity of grassland use intensity strategies over time, as indicated by increasing interquantile ranges of yearly boxplots. Our results suggest that both in- and extensification are profitable strategies for farmers within the given policy framework. Furthermore, Moran’s I measures show the emergence of regional clusters of in- and extensification. These intensification clusters possibly amplify environmental problems. Our analysis therefore highlights the need for spatial assessments of agricultural policies, i.e. local adverse environmental effects of intensive grassland use should be targeted by spatially tailored policy measures.

show abstract

Redistribution of Direct Payments to Permanent Grasslands: Intended and Unintended Impacts

Cited by 6 publications

References 4 publications

Short‐ and Long‐Run Policy Evaluation: Support for Grassland‐Based Milk Production in Switzerland

Short‐ and Long‐Run Policy Evaluation: Support for Grassland‐Based Milk Production in Switzerland

Working conditions and labor flexibility in non-family farms: weather-based labor management by Japanese paddy rice corporations

Spatio-temporal dynamics of grassland use intensity in Switzerland

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About