Nitrate pollution of ground and surface water can stem from the mismanagement and
over-application of both inorganic and organic fertilizers. This results in the occurrence of
non-point externalities, which infringe on the overall level of social welfare.
Market based environmental policies, known as economic instruments, can be
developed to curb the level of this non-point externality. Such policies directly affect the
management decisions of agricultural producers, providing them with incentives to change
their management practices. The overall objective of this study is to analyze an array of
economic instruments which could feasibly curb water quality degradation resulting from the
over-application and misuse of manure and inorganic fertilizers in agricultural production.
The economic instruments are compared in terms of their relative effectiveness in decreasing
nitrate water pollution and social damage.
This thesis develops a three agent manure market model, wherein a vegetable producer
and composter can purchase manure from a dairy producer or inorganic fertilizer from an
exogenous fertilizer market. The production activities of each agent are modelled using real
world production data. A non-linear programming technique is used.
The imposition of a percentage manure tax was found to alter the vegetable producer’s
derived demand for manure, and resulted in less manure being exchanged between the dairy
and vegetable producers. The provisions of a percentage manure composting subsidy
increased the quantity of manure demanded by the composter and decreased the amount of
manure consumed by the vegetable and dairy producers. The imposition of an inorganic
fertilizer tax increased the demands for manure fertilizer, as did the manure application limit. The effects on social damage are dependent on the leaching and surface run-off
susceptibilities of each operation’s associated land base.
The composting subsidy appeared to be the most efficient instrument for decreasing
the overall level of social damage, when qualitatively analyzed. It induced decreases in the
demand for manure by both the dairy and vegetable producers, while increasing the demand
for manure of the composter. This results in an overall social benefit. There must be,
however, financial justification for the implementation of such an instrument.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/5399 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | McAuley, Julie Anne |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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