Abstract
In recent years a growing body of literature in the agricultural policy arena has examined the association between crop insurance and off-farm employment. However, little is known about the extent to which these two activities may be related to environmental quality, in particular their impacts on fertilizer/chemical use of the farm. To fill this gap, this paper examines the effect of crop insurance and off-farm work on fertilizer/chemical expenses within the farm household framework. Quantile regression results from a national representative farm-level data show that off-farm work by the farm operator tends to decrease fertilizer/chemical expenses, and the effect is more pronounced at the higher percentiles of the distribution of fertilizer/chemical expense. In contrast, a positive effect of crop insurance on fertilizer/chemical expenses is evident, and the effect is robust across the entire distribution.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 76-82 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Journal of Environmental Management |
Volume | 105 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Aug 30 2012 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Crop insurance
- Farm household
- Fertilizer/chemical expenses
- Off-farm work
- Quantile regression
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Environmental Engineering
- Waste Management and Disposal
- Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law