BENEFITS AND COSTS OF NATURAL RESOURCES POLICIES AFFECTING PUBLIC AND PRIVATE LANDS (FROM W1133)

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: EXTENDED
• Funding Source: HATCH
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 0211738
• Project No.: DEL00633
• Project Start Date: Oct 1, 2007
• Project End Date: Sep 30, 2013

Project Director
Ilvento, T.

Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE
(N/A)
NEWARK,DE 19717

Performing Department
Applied Economics and Statistics

Non Technical Summary
Delaware continues to experience rapid population growth. Since 1950, the population has more than doubled in size, growing at an average annual rate of 2.7 percent. Between 1990 and 2000, Delaware was one of the top ten fastest growing states. As a result, there are continuing issues about sprawl, regulation of growth, and the loss of farmland. This project seeks to document land use issues, measure public support for farmland preservation, estimate willingness to pay for preservation, estimate economic costs of farmland loss, and analyze land use conflicts.

Animal Health Component

(N/A)

Research Effort Categories

Basic

(N/A)

Applied

(N/A)

Developmental

(N/A)

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
605	0120	3010	80%
608	0120	3080	20%

Knowledge Area
605 - Natural Resource and Environmental Economics; 608 - Community Resource Planning and Development;

Subject Of Investigation
0120 - Land;

Field Of Science
3010 - Economics; 3080 - Sociology;

Keywords

preference

conjoint

willingness to pay

preservation

tdr

pdr

sprawl

population growth

critical mass

landuse

conflict

Goals / Objectives
1. Estimate the economic value of management actions and policies that reduce risk and uncertainty of natural hazards and agricultural land preservation. 2. Develop and evaluate the accuracy and reliability of primary non-market valuation methods and benefit transfer for use by public agencies.

Project Methods
The primary interest is the farmland preservation focusing on strategies to measure public support for the states Purchase of Development Rights Program and the evaluation of the Delaware Purchase of Development Rights Program. The primary strategies involve the continued documentation of farmland loss; professional surveys measuring public support for farmland preservation and willingness to pay; evaluation of the effectiveness of current state policies.

Progress 01/01/12 to 12/31/12

Outputs
OUTPUTS: 1. Web-based choice experiment of approximately 500 respondents on hydraulic fracking in New York State (with Jen Popkin and Thomas W. Ilvento), May 2011 2. Intercept choice-experiment survey and experiment of Rehoboth Beach visitors on windmill amenities/disamenties (with Kent Messer, Jacob Fooks, Janet Johnson, George Parsons), July 2011 3. Phone survey of 500 agricultural landowners on farmland affordability (with Brian Schilling, Paul Gottlieb, Dick Esseks, Lori Lynch), December 2011. PARTICIPANTS: Joshua Duke, Professor Thomas W. Ilvento, Professor Jenn Popkin, Kent Messer, Allison M. Borchers, Robert J. Johnston, Sarah Absetz TARGET AUDIENCES: Target audiences are research colleagues, landowners and state Extension personnel in Delaware, and Delaware state officials. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: None at this time.

Impacts
Increased knowledge of land use in Delaware. Increased knowledge of the impacts of various land use activities on the lives of Delawareans.

Publications

• Duke, Joshua M., Allison M. Borchers, Robert J. Johnston, and Sarah Absetz. 2012. Sustainable agricultural management contracts: Using choice experiments to estimate the benefits of land preservation and conservation practices. Ecological Economics 74:95-103.
• Saksa, Kresten, Thomas W. Ilvento and Susan S. Barton. Interpretation of Sustainable Landscapes Affects Student Perception of Sustainable Landscape Features. HortTechnology June 2012 vol. 22 no. 3 402-409 Arnold, M., J. Duke, and K.D. Messer. Forthcoming,Adverse Selection in Reverse Auctions for Environmental Services. Land Economics. Suter, J., J. Duke, and K.D. Messer, and H. Michael. Forthcoming. Behavior in a Spatially-Explicit Groundwater Resource: Evidence from the Lab. American Journal of Agricultural Economics. Messer, K.D., J. Duke, and L. Lynch. Forthcoming. Applying Experimental Economics to Land Economics: Public Information and Auction Efficiency in Land Preservation Markets. in the Oxford Handbook of Land Economics. J. Duke and J. Wu editors. Oxford Press. Duke, Joshua M., Allison M. Borchers, Robert J. Johnston, and Sarah Absetz. 2012. Sustainable agricultural management contracts: Using choice experiments to estimate the benefits of land preservation and conservation practices. Ecological Economics 74:95-103. Borchers, Allison M. and Joshua M. Duke. 2012. Capitalization and proximity to agricultural and natural lands: Evidence from Delaware. Journal of Environmental Management 99:110-117.

Progress 01/01/11 to 12/31/11

Outputs
OUTPUTS: SURVEYS INSTRUMENTS AND DATA COLLECTION 1. Web-based choice experiment of approximately 500 respondents on hydraulic fracking in New York State (with Jen Popkin and Thomas W. Ilvento), May 2011 2. Intercept choice-experiment survey and experiment of Rehoboth Beach visitors on windmill amenities/disamenties (with Kent Messer, Jacob Fooks, Janet Johnson, George Parsons), July 2011 3. Phone survey of 500 agricultural landowners on farmland affordability (with Brian Schilling, Paul Gottlieb, Dick Esseks, Lori Lynch), December 2011. PARTICIPANTS: Joshua Duke, Professor Thomas W. Ilvento, Professor Jenn Popkin, 7 Graduate students. TARGET AUDIENCES: Target audiences are research colleagues, landowners and state Extension personnel in Delaware, and Delaware state officials. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.

Impacts
Increased knowledge of land use in Delaware. Increased knowledge of the impacts of various land use activities on the lives of Delawareans.

Publications

• The Oxford Handbook of Land Economics with JunJie Wu, exp. 2012. The Oxford University Press. 32 solicited chapters. As of December 2011, 19 chapters are received. A large part of my effort in 2011 consisted of recruiting, maintaining contact, and reminding authors, and collaborating with my co-editor and the editorial staff at OUP.
• Duke, Joshua M., Allison M. Borchers, Robert J. Johnston, and Sarah Chatterson. 2012. Sustainable Agricultural Management Contracts: Estimating the Benefits of Land Preservation and Conservation Practices using a Choice Experiment. Ecological Economics xxx:xxx-xxx (available on-line)
• Borchers, Allison M. and Joshua M. Duke. 2012 Capitalization and proximity to agricultural and natural lands: Evidence from Delaware. Forthcoming at J. of Environmental Management.
• Duke, Joshua M. Forthcoming. Property rights and the environment. 2012 In Encyclopedia of Energy, Natural Resources, and Environment, ed. Jason Shogren.