A digital environmental regulation in agriculture: satellite data, crop farming, and the Nitrate Directive in France

Crop farming in Sub-Saharan Africa is constantly confronted by extreme weather events. Researchers have been striving to develop different tools that can be used to reduce the impacts of adverse weather on agriculture. Index-based crop insurance (IBCI) has emerged to be one of the tools that could potentially hedge farmers against weather-related risks. However, IBCI is still constrained by poor product design and basis risk. This study complements the efforts to improve IBCI design by evaluating the performances of the Tropical Applications of Meteorology using SATellite data and ground-based observations (TAMSAT) and Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Station data (CHIRPS) in estimating rainfall at different spatial scales over the maize-growing season in a smallholder farming area in South Africa. Results show that CHIRPS outperforms TAMSAT and produces better results at 20-day and monthly time steps. The study then uses CHIRPS and a crop water requirements (CWR) model to derive IBCI thresholds and an IBCI payout model. Results of CWR modeling show that this proposed IBCI system can cover the development, mid-season, and late-season stages of maize growth in the study area. The study then uses this information to calculate the weight, trigger, exit, and tick for each of these growth stages. Although this approach is premised on the prevailing conditions in the study area, it can be applied in other areas with different growing conditions to improve IBCI design.

Farming practices and their implications for the environment have come under increasing scrutiny in recent years with mounting pressures on farmers to reduce pollution and achieve higher environmental standards. The Nitrates Directive is an outstanding example, at EU level, of the pressure on farmers to redirect agriculture toward greater sustainability. This paper examines the implementation process of the Nitrates Directive in Spain, analysing the causes of the delay in implementing the directive, and examining farmer’s views of nitrate pollution and their attitudes toward environmental regulation of their activity.

The effect of environmental regulations on Swiss farm productivity

Nitrogen soil surface balance of organic vs conventional cash crop farming in the Seine watershed

The aim of this paper is firstly to show how the measures introduced by the European regulation on manure management are incorporated into the theoretical analysis framework for studying the issue of nonpoint externality and especially, agricultural runoff. The model is extended because only some of the polluting emissions at the origin of diffuse pollution are regulated by the Nitrates Directive. More specifically, the model represents the standard that limits the spreading of organic manure to 170 kg/ha as a production right assigned to each farm. Secondly, this paper proposes an empirical model in which the theoretical assumption that productive abilities are fully exploited is relaxed. In order to describe the disparity that exists between individual situations, an empirical model represents the production technology by means of a directional distance function. Finally, the aggregation properties of the directional distance function are used to simulate the practice of looking for off-farm lands as a means of complying with the standard. We look at how land can be allocated among producers in such a way as to combine the disposal of manure in accordance with the limit of the Nitrates Directive with an improvement in the productive and environmental efficiency of all farms. Using a sample of French pig farms, results indicate only a low potential for a reduction in nitrogen pollution based on the reduction in productive inefficiencies and the allocation of spreading lands among farmers in a same area.

The purpose of this paper is to develop models with an individual and a collective management of the European Nitrate directive. The objective is to compare productive efficiency of farms under the two regimes. First, we develop a model that explicitly integrate the individual constraint on organic manure spreading. The individual threshold is introduced as a productive right. Then, we develop a framework that allows for modelling exchange of productive rights among producers. The simulation of a management of the spreading constrainst on organic manure at the regional level give an estimate of the potential gains that can be realised by allowing a collective maagement of the European environmental regulation. Models are based on a nonparametric frontier approach (Data Envelopment Analysis). An illustration is provided on a sample of farms from the French pig sector. Results highlights gains that would have been made if collective management had been allowed instead of an individual regulation as stated in the Nitrate directive.

This chapter explores the trade effects of environmental regulations (related to reducing water pollution from excess nitrogen) and animal welfare standards in the pig sectors of the EU, USA and Canada. It is revealed that total compliance costs with the Nitrates Directive by pig producers in the EU could increase production costs by up to 5%. Given current compliance rates with this legislation, however, the additional costs of full compliance across the EU might be less than 1% of total production costs. Implementation of the Clean Water Act (CWA) in the USA could increase production costs by around 1%, and implementation of nutrient management regulations in Canada could increase production costs in the range between 2 and 4%. Such cost increases can have considerable implications for international trade. Cost increases of animal welfare rules in the pig sector of the EU have limited implications for international trade.

Adopting sustainable farm management practices within a Nitrate Vulnerable Zone in Scotland: The view from the farm

The targets for nitrogen and phosphorous concentrations in groundwater and surface water under the Water Framework Directive and the Nitrates Directive are currently not being met in certain regions of the Netherlands. The Scientific Committee on the Nutrient Management Policy (CDM) has studied the relevant legal instruments to determine whether or not these provide sufficient means to introduce the additional measures required to improve water quality. The generic approach to controlling nutrient leaching involves the application of use standards and conditions under the Act on Manures and Fertilisers and the Decree on Fertiliser Use (Soil Protection Act). If this legislation is amended, the national government will be able to deploy all the measures examined in this study on a regional scale. Without any legislative amendment, it will not be possible to delegate powers to subnational authorities for the application of generic measures. In the place-based approach the provincial authorities can deploy certain measures in groundwater protection areas via the provincial environmental regulation. Water authorities can issue individual regulations declaring crop-free zones (no fertiliser use) along watercourses in specified areas. These possibilities available to regional authorities can only be used in specific situations. When the Environment and Planning Act comes into force these powers will be expanded. Further research will be needed to determine whether or not it will be necessary to extend the powers available to provincial and/or water authorities to include the imposition of supplementary place-based measures

Consistent crop information is vital for the survival of the crop insurance sector, which relies on historical crop data, weather records, meteorological information, and farmers’ details. In India, fragmented, low-quality, and costly data have led to adverse claims ratios, forcing insurance companies to exit the market. This paper proposes an integrated framework that assimilates crop details, quality satellite data, and an actuarial model for crop yield estimation. We use kernel density estimation for risk assessment and emphasize the critical role of bandwidth calculation. Our research indicates that traditional heuristics for bandwidth selection can be misleading. A visualization of the fitted distribution with a frequency histogram can often provide tell-tale signs of an erroneous conclusion from the heuristics. We emphasize the role of the modeller’s judgment in determining the optimal bandwidth that is free from overfitting or over-smoothing. The framework bridges the gap between data and the insurer. The proposed model is of regulatory importance as it solves the issue of missing data and improves risk assessment, which will improve crop insurance market penetration and farmers’ participation and thereby promote stability in the crop insurance sector.

This study was mandated by the Joint Working Party on Agriculture and the Environment to examine the links, using a quantitative approach, between various stylised agricultural policies and environmental outcomes. The study, which draws some general observations for policies, is based on analysis and data on four countries with different policy and agri-environmental characteristics: Finland (environmental regulations, payments and taxes in a crop farm); Japan (nutrient management in a rice/crop farm); Switzerland (nutrient management in a mixed dairy/crop farm); and the United States (conservation auctions in a corn/soy farm).

Non-separability and heterogeneity in integrated agronomic–economic analysis of nonpoint-source pollution

Coupling crop and bio-economic farm modelling to evaluate the revised fertilization regulations in Germany

Environmental regulation, economic development and air pollution in the cities of China: Spatial econometric analysis based on policy scoring and satellite data

Field-scale assessment of Belgian winter cover crops biomass based on Sentinel-2 data