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Extensive changes in British agriculture since the Second World War have increasingly been accompanied by growing public concern over associated change in the rural environment. Identifying and monitoring alterations in the countryside has gradually been supplemented by a research focus on the processes by which such changes occur. One particular factor understood to be involved in such change, which has attracted considerable attention, has been farm-level restructuring within the sector. This work applies previous research findings on the land-use and landscape impacts in respect of one aspect of restructuring; change in farm ownership, in a case study area in the North-East of Scotland. Adverse weather conditions in the mid-1980s resulted in severe financial difficulties for those farmers that had over-developed wheat production in an area marginal for cereal cultivation. Reports suggested that an unusually high proportion of agricultural properties were sold in Aberdeenshire as a result of this situation, and that the purchasers included a high number of in-migrants and those not previously involved in farming. This situation permitted the application of existing research on ownership restructuring and for due attention to be given to the associated locality-specific factors, which have been acknowledged as significant in processes of land-use and landscape change. The restructuring that had taken place was investigated with reference to data from the Scottish Office of Agriculture and Fisheries and in detail, using the Register of Sasines, for a sample constructed from advertisements for properties sold between 1987 and 1990. The land-use and landscape changes undertaken on these properties were examined in comparison with those on a sample of properties that had experienced no such restructuring, in order to distinguish the role played by this factor. Other variables relating to the characteristics of the farmer and the farm holdings and businesses themselves, which are also held to influence decision-making and land-use change, were investigated to ascertain their relative significance in determining countryside change.

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The study concerns the effects on the course of agricultural land-use change of the local domination of land occupancy by sub-full-time farms; in particular the effect of non-agricultural occupations on the land-use of individual farm operators is central. Land-use <i>changes</i> in the West Highlands of Scotland (1947-79) were charted for 66 Parishes, which were subjected to a hierarchical fusion of 'similar experience' of change. Resultant clusters were compared in terms of structural attributes. Differentiation was found at two levels: between areas of high viz low percentages of part-time holdings and within the sub-full-time fractions, related to relative proportions of holdings of 40-135, and 135-270 Standard Man Days. 'Insignificant' holdings (<40 SMDs) were found not to be of a characteristic land-use 'type' but instead operated enterprises of similar form to larger units. In three areas of crofting townships land-use and enterprise characteristics were found not to be a sole function of size of holdings or labour availability, (estimated from household demographic and employment criteria). Non-farm occupational characteristics (full-time; part-time; seasonal etc) related to the scale of enterprise but less so to the type of enterprise. Occupants with off-farm work did not specialise <i>per se</i> in low-labour demanding activities. Linear programming was used to estimate optimal land-use intensity from land capability and labour data. Occupational factors related to sub-optimal land-use intensity as did occupants' age. A method derived from Point Score Analysis of decision-making factors showed that certain factors serve as 'constraints' on choices of specific groups of individuals. Off-farm work was found to be the most important such constraint.

Resume Rights and obligations of owners the agricultural land The purpose of my thesis is to describe rights and obligations of owners of agricultural land. The thesis is composed of four chapters. Chapter One describes the historical evolution of the ownership of the land in Czech republic and impact of this evolution on current structure of ownership to land. Chapter Two describes the specifics of land ownership. This chapter is subdivided into five parts. Part One deals with the subject of land ownership, part Two discusses object of land ownership, part Three discusses content of land ownership, part Four discusses limitation on land ownership - the legal relations between neighbours, easements, expropriation, and part Five deals with the tax obligations of the land owner. Chapter Three describes the specifics of ownership of agricultural land. This chapter is subdivided in four parts. Part One deals with the state as a subject of land ownership. Part Two deals with the influence of the purpose categorization of land and protection of agricultural land fund for use of the land. Part Three discusses rights anf obligatoins o fland owners under contract of sale and lease. Part Four discusses land consolidation. Chapter Four describes limitations of farming on agricultural land. This chapter consists of...

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / I explore the ecological, economic, and policy determinants of agricultural land conversion in the Brazilian Amazon. Economic drivers of land-use change are quantified by rent, which is calculated using ecological and physiological models of biological productivity and spatial economic models for the costs of moving agricultural products to market. The validity of this approach is tested empirically by estimating spatially efficient logit models that simulate land-use change in the Mato Grosso region between 2001 and 2004. My empirical measures for agricultural rent are used to quantify the desirability of a particular plot of land, which previous research represents with simple proxies, such as distance to roads or urban areas, climate, and soil type. Statistical results indicate that my measure of economic rent subsumes the explanatory power of previous proxies. This result is consistent with economic theory, which posits that it is not simply access or variation in transportation costs that drives the spatial pattern of agricultural expansion, but the expected total returns from the venture. I extend the analysis of competing economic uses by comparing spatially explicit estimates of soybean rents to the value of ecosystem services. Although these estimates for these uses are generated from different data sets, models, and estimation techniques, the values are comparable, such that the value of ecosystem services is greater than soybean rents for about 61 percent of the total area. Given this balance, the failure to value ecosystem services reduces total social welfare. Policy instruments that internalize the value of ecosystem services via land conversion taxes, conservation subsidies, or excise taxes can avoid much of this loss. Together, these results suggest that spatially explicit models of economic rents and value of ecosystem services can be used to simulate the location and quantity of land-use change in an economically consistent framework. Such a framework lays the foundation for an enhanced methodology that can evaluate the ability of fiscal policy levers to influence the location of agricultural conversion with the ultimate aim of balancing economic and environmental goals. / 2031-01-02

Master of Science / Department of Agricultural Economics / Mykel R. Taylor / The average land price in Kansas has recently been through a period of large growth and decay, nearly doubling from 2010 to its peak in 2014, but falling from 2014 to 2017 in both real and nominal terms. However, there is anecdotal evidence that not all land prices are dropping at the same rate. Lower quality land prices seem to be dropping at a higher rate than the higher quality land prices. The goal of this analysis is to give analytical evidence to support the belief of different rates of price changes for different qualities of land. The hypothesis is that once the farm economy entered its period of negative growth, the producers that over-leveraged themselves needed to sell some of their assets to correct their balance sheets and that low quality land is the primary asset liquidated. The producers that did not over-leverage themselves would still be looking to purchase the right piece of land. This creates a surplus of less preferred low quality land on the market, while the supply and demand for the high quality land stays strong. This analysis was completed using 56,291 observations on land sales from 33 years starting at the beginning of 1985 and continuing on through the middle of 2017. A real price per acre for the land weighted by the number of acres in each parcel was calculated for each quarter, as well as a variable with the price of land lagged one quarter. Data on real net farm income, the S&P 500, and 30-year fixed-rate mortgage interest rates were also collected and used to create averages for each of the 131 quarters analyzed in this work. Finally, a variable representing the percent of all sales in each quarter in the bottom 25 percent in quality of all land sales was created. Quarterly dummy variables were included to control for seasonality. Two regressions were run with the only difference being the exclusion of the variable representing the bottom quality sales in the first in order to compare the results. Analysis of the first regression shows positive relationships between the dependent variable of the logged real price per acre and the independent variables of the logged lagged real price per acre, real net farm income, the S&P 500, and land sold during the third quarter of the year compared to the first quarter. There is a negative relationship suggested between the logged land price and the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage interest rate. Inclusion of the variable representing sales of land in the bottom quartile of quality suggest results consistent with the first regression, with some of the variables becoming more statistically significant. More importantly, this analysis shows a negative relationship between average land price and the variable representing land quality. This shows that the average land price is affected by the quality of the land sold at a statistically significant level.

Anthropogenic eutrophication of freshwater lakes due to land use change is a growing global problem with economic consequences, such as a reduction in shoreline property value. Managing eutrophication is of utmost importance in Maine, USA due to the large number of inland fresh waterbodies and their economic importance for fisheries, recreation, and real estate. This thesis investigates the relationships between water quality and catchment land use. Agricultural land use is a large driver of excess nutrient export to lakes, including in Maine, and can result in toxic cyanobacterial blooms, decreased water clarity, and fish kills. I developed a statistical relationship to quantitatively link agricultural intensity in the catchment and resultant water quality outcomes in Maine lakes. I observe a strong statistical relationship between water quality and anthropogenic activity in the catchment, as expected. Interestingly, I found that the effects of anthropogenic activity were most closely related to a five-year lag in water quality, which is between 0.8 to 4.71 years longer than the lake residence times. My results suggest that changes in land use may have long-term effects on water quality that last for far longer than would be expected. The analysis presented in this paper is novel for directly linking long term observational agricultural and biological datasets and presents a new way to quantitatively link water quality and anthropogenic intensity in the catchment area. / Master of Science / Worsening water quality of freshwater lakes due to land use change is a growing global problem with economic consequences, such as a reduction in shoreline property value. Managing water quality is of utmost importance in Maine, USA due to the large number of inland fresh waterbodies and their economic importance for fisheries, recreation, and real estate. This thesis investigates the relationships between water quality and lakeside land use. Agricultural land use is a large driver of lowered water quality in lakes, including in Maine. I developed a statistical relationship to mathematically link agriculture near the lake and resultant water quality outcomes in Maine. I observe a strong statistical relationship between water quality and human activity in the catchment, as expected. Interestingly, I found that the effects of human activity were most closely related to a five-year lag in water quality, which is between 0.8 to 4.71 years longer than the lake residence times. My results suggest that changes in land use may have long-term effects on water quality that last for far longer than would be expected.

Market land prices ignore the non-market value of ecosystem goods and services; hence, too much agricultural land may be developed. Correct land valuation must include these non-market values. Values of ecosystem services provided by the Richland-Chambers constructed wetlands are assessed through meta-analysis to derive confidence intervals for the willingness-to-pay (WTP) for wetland services. Replacement costs are also used to estimate cost savings of creating wetlands to cleanse river water instead of constructing a conventional wastewater treatment facility. Benefit transfer is used to estimate WTP for non-market agricultural land amenities. Ecosystem services of runoff in the western and recharge in the eastern part of Comal County based on hydrological models are also calculated. Finally, seemingly unrelated regression is used to quantify the effects of growth on current agricultural land values in Texas. Using two different meta-analysis transfer functions, mean WTP for the Richland-Chambers wetlands are $843 and $999 / acre / year. Estimated 95% confidence interval is $95 to $7,435 / acre / year. This confidence interval clearly indicates the uncertainty associated with valuing ecosystem goods and services. The replacement cost of the Richland?Chambers constructed wetlands is estimated to be $1,688 / acre / year. Aggregate WTP to preserve farm and ranchland non-market amenities in Comal County is estimated to be $1,566 / acre. Using hydrologic models, the runoff is valued at $79 / acre, whereas, recharge value is $1,107 / acre. Development will cause a change in recharge, runoff, and pollution which will decrease societal welfare by $1,288 / acre. Seemingly unrelated regression results show that a percentage increase in population growth in the closest metropolitan statistical area (MSA) is associated with increases in land values of approximately $2 / acre. A one-mile increase in distance from the nearest MSA decreased land values by $4 / acre in 1997, $6 / acre in 2002, and $8 / acre in 2007. The diversity of studies illustrates that a cookbook type of methodology is not appropriate for valuing ecosystem goods and services. On the other hand, development contributes positively to land values through encroachment on agricultural lands.