ABSTRACT:
Between 1973 and 1976, favorable crop prices brought 676,000 acres (274,000 hectares) of new cropland into production in Georgia. Each acre of this new cropland, on the average, generated environmental loadings of 4.38 tons of sediment, 7.45 pounds of nitrogen (excluding leaching), and 1.30 pounds of phosphorus. Net farm income on this land increased an estimated $36 per acre a year. Aggregate personal income for the state rose an average of $1.41 for each $1.00 increase in net farm income. From a policy perspective, economic benefits from new cropland must be weighed against increased environmental loadings.
Footnotes
Fred C. White is a professor of Agricultural economics, University of Georgia, Athens 30602; James R. Hairston is an assistant professor, Department of Agronomy, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, Mississippi; Wesley N. Musser is a visiting professor, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, University of Minnesota, St. Paul; and H. F. Perkins is a professor of agronomy, and J. F. Reed is a retired professor of agronomy, University of Georgia, Athens. This research was supported by state, Hatch, and Environmental Protection Agency funds allocated to the Georgia Aricultural Experiment Stations.
- Copyright 1981 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
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