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This paper reviews the economic rationale of Land Readjustment (LR), investigating the (full-)cost recovery principle from the lens of the Henry George theorem in Korean contexts. This research articulates how land value uplift was used for infrastructure in LR. South Korean LR is explored due to the manifestation of the tight link between land value uplift and infrastructure. In Korean LR, a portion of land by private owners should be surrendered for new urban infrastructure. Nevertheless, the LR scheme was accepted by Korean landowners because serviced land converted from un-serviced land is more valuable. This research carries out a case study of the largest Korean LR project – Yeongdong (YD) – a central part of Gangnam in Seoul, on a land area of 26.8 km2 implemented in the period 1967–1991. YD experienced drastic land value uplift as high as almost 13,000 times over twenty-six years after the conversion from farmland. Local-level infrastructure was fully funded by LR by virtue of land value uplift, without other public funds, demonstrating the land value-infrastructure nexus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to find out how land registration activities are carried out by the Government for the benefit of the people in order to guarantee legal certainty in the land sector. The problem focuses on the land rights registration system, the recording of which describes a detailed summary regarding the occurrence of property ownership and changes thereto, or other transactions that affect a property right. In order to approach this problem, theoretical references from several sources are used, including (1) legal protection theory; (2) theory of legal certainty. Data is collected through several sources such as interviews, observation results, events or test results of objects or documents in the form of books, journals, notes or other archives that are related and analyzed qualitatively. This study concludes that based on the urgency of the problem, the system for checking and registering land title certificates is carried out using an electronic system. The certificate check is carried out by the PPAT before the deed is made which is the basis for the legal act of transferring/assigning land rights. PPAT has the authority to check, copy, validate and register land title certificates as regulated in UUPA PP No. 24 of 1997 and PP no. 37 of 1998. The output of this system is in the form of printed documents in electronic form. In this case, the electronic document referred to is an electronic certificate or e-certificate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We identify the factors affecting the participation in land accumulation of rural households by using a multinomial logit model and assess the income effects of participation in land accumulation by using the propensity score matching (PSM) method. We use household data from a rural survey in three provinces in the Red River Delta of Vietnam in 2019. Our results show that farmland accumulation is significantly correlated with age and gender of household head, as well as agricultural productive assets, non-farm income, saving and access to credit. The participation in farmland accumulation leads to an increase in total household income, although the effect is different between land increasing and land decreasing groups. We suggest enhancing access to credit and supporting non-farm activities to accelerate the accumulation of agricultural land and consequently improve household income. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses an initiative in 2017 to update and digitise textual land records in Telangana, a south Indian state. Its premise is that experiments to modernise land records have not met with pre‐determined standards of success due, primarily, to the historically evolved contradictions around land as a resource and a commodity. In countries like India, the colonial policies on land and the post‐colonial success of landlords to manipulate land records had already left the post‐War task of ensuring conclusive land titles intractable. In more recent times, however, the agenda of land records modernisation has been absorbed by neoliberalism, which aims to create free land markets and replace traditional subsidies with direct cash transfers. This article shows that, consequently, the task of land records modernisation in Telangana became disembedded from agendas of agrarian egalitarianism and was rendered more complex—historical errors and exclusions were reproduced in new ways; technocratic solutions of the bureaucracy made governmental processes opaque; landed sections continued to subvert implementation; tenants were excluded from the land titles; and there were fears that the scheme would be misused to ease corporate land acquisition. Land records modernisation remains important for agrarian reform, but its success remains contingent on a greater appreciation among policymakers for the historical and political economy aspects of land ownership and possession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land inequality stalls economic development, entrenches poverty, and is associated with environmental degradation. Yet, rigorous assessments of land-use interventions attend to inequality only rarely. A land inequality lens is especially important to understand how recent large-scale land acquisitions (LSLAs) affect smallholder and indigenous communities across as much as 100 million hectares around the world. This paper studies inequalities in land assets, specifically landholdings and farm size, to derive insights into the distributional outcomes of LSLAs. Using a household survey covering four pairs of land acquisition and control sites in Tanzania, we use a quasi-experimental design to characterize changes in land inequality and subsequent impacts on well-being. We find convincing evidence that LSLAs in Tanzania lead to both reduced landholdings and greater farmland inequality among smallholders. Households in proximity to LSLAs are associated with 21.1% (P = 0.02) smaller landholdings while evidence, although insignificant, is suggestive that farm sizes are also declining. Aggregate estimates, however, hide that households in the bottom quartiles of farm size suffer the brunt of landlessness and land loss induced by LSLAs that combine to generate greater farmland inequality. Additional analyses find that land inequality is not offset by improvements in other livelihood dimensions, rather farm size decreases among households near LSLAs are associated with no income improvements, lower wealth, increased poverty, and higher food insecurity. The results demonstrate that without explicit consideration of distributional outcomes, land-use policies can systematically reinforce existing inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tracking farmland purchases is central to interpreting transnational finance's growing power in agrarian restructuring. Australia's public Register of foreign land ownership reveals little about agrarian change, however. In presenting the first comprehensive mapping of farmland purchases made between 2008 and 2020, this paper examines the ways that financial investments are altering farm ownership patterns in Australia. First, we show that most foreign owned land has been purchased by only 10 pastoral companies, which are implicated in speculative development activities. Second, foreign investment in cropping and horticulture is more significant than it appears in the Register, with investments in agricultural infrastructure increasingly driving land use change. Third, we illustrate the deepening entrenchment of institutional finance. By engaging with the findings from our dataset as well as with the politics of data that have shaped the availability of information, the paper progresses understandings of the financialization of farmland in both its material and ideational aspects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study aims to determine the influencing factors and their impact levels on residential land prices. The research investigated 241 officials, real estate investors, appraisers, and real estate brokers on factors affecting residential land prices. Research results have shown 13 groups with 45 factors affecting the price of residential land. The impact rates of the factor groups range from 1.43% to 23.65%. The COVID-19 pandemic factor group has the strongest impact on land prices, followed by other factor groups, including upgrading administrative units; formulation and implementation of the planning; the real estate market; financial – economics; credit; real estate brokerage; infrastructure; location of the land parcel; particular factors; juridical factors; environment and social security. To harmonize the interests of the State, investors, and land users when valuing land, it is necessary to pay attention to the factors that strongly impact land prices first, and then the smaller ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the active promotion of the concept of common prosperity, farmland has once again become the focus of attention in political and academic circles, and many scholars have advocated the further visualization of the property value of farmland elements to increase farmers' income. To promote the coordinated development of China's food security and common prosperity strategies, this paper attempts to reveal the dilemma facing farmland capitalization. Theoretically, based on the factor allocation decision logic of full-time and part-time farmers, this paper proposed the dilemma of farmland capitalization between increasing food production and farm household income. We empirically constructed a model to measure farmland capitalization and characterized its degree in 27 provinces in China's mainland from 2004 to 2020. The study also provided empirical support for the theoretical analysis by using a threshold regression model and a mediating effect model based on 790 microsamples from typical provinces. The results found that: ① Farmland capitalization showed a trend of increasing year by year nationwide, with a spatial distribution pattern of spreading from the center to the surrounding areas, and the provinces with a higher degree of farmland capitalization were concentrated in the main grain-producing areas. ② The impact of farmland transfer prices on grain production had structural effects depending on the degree of farmland capitalization: In the moderate capitalization scenario (farmland capitalization≤1.011), farmland price increases promoted the expansion of food crop acreage; in the excessive capitalization scenario (farmland capitalization≥1.154), farmland price increases suppressed food crop acreage. ③ Farmland capitalization helped to meet farmers' psychological expectations on the value of farmland assets, and significantly increased farmers' income by promoting two paths: the outflow of farmland and off-farm employment. ④ Farmland capitalization in China was facing a dilemma between increasing food production and increasing farmers' income, which posed an important potential problem for national food security. The capitalization of farmland can not only improve the problem of insufficient property income in the income structure of farm households, but also promote the non-farm transfer of rural labor, but behind it is the fact that a large amount of farmland is 'nongrain.' In the future, the Chinese government should emphasize the production factor attributes of farmland, use policy tools to guide the rational return of farmland prices, improve the market for productive agricultural services, and prevent the risk of farmland over-capitalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In view of the safety of agricultural products under the background of cadmium（Cd） pollution in farmland, this paper discusses the rules of Cd accumulation in different crops and the economic benefits of different planting modes, so as to provide scientific basis for the safe production of Cd polluted farmland.The farmland polluted by Cd was taken as the test site.In the first year, 14 crops were selected to carry out the screening test of alternative crops, and the characteristics of Cd accumulation of agricultural products were systematically analyzed.In the second year, six alternative planting models were set up for alternative crops with a good rate of reaching the standard, and the economic benefits of each alternative model were discussed in depth.The results showed that:（1）The wheat and rice in the study area exceeded the standard seriously, and the traditional rice-wheat rotation mode had higher production risk.（2）From the perspective of Cd compliance rate of crops, rape, sorghum, green vegetables, radish, lentils, fresh soybeans, job tears, plantain grass, cassia seed are suitable as alternative crops; soybean, peanut, ginger, chrysanthemum and mint are not suitable as alternative crops.（3）The net profit, cash income and cost profit margin of plantain-fresh soybean rotation are 124%,123% and 5.58% higher than those of traditional rice-wheat rotation, respectively.It is preferred to be the local alternative planting mode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Balakrishnan has produced a definitive report on the effects of market liberalization and decentralization of governance in the Western Indian region of the Mumbai-Pune economic corridor. Whenever land has an astronomical price, there is an extreme discount that can only be reconciled by taxes on other, non-land activities. (16) True, a self-regulating land market is an economic fallacy, but saying so does not advance an alternative view, such as land value return. [Extracted from the article]

Two recently published books—Fairbairn's Fields of Gold and Ouma's Farming as a Financial Asset—now provide the first extensive investigations into finance's engagement with farmland. Both books set out to understand finance's growing interest in farmland from the perspective of the financial actors involved, and inquire how, why, and with what kind of challenges 'finance has been going farming.' This review essay discusses the two books in the context of the 'land rush' literature. It outlines how they contribute to an advanced understanding of the financialization of farmland in three ways, by (i) embedding finance‐farmland intersections historically; (ii) scrutinizing the role of the state within financial farmland investments; and (iii) exploring the hurdles involved in 'marrying' finance with farmland. I then critically reflect on the areas that have not been covered by the authors. Critical agrarian studies need to investigate how financialization intersects with the digitization of agriculture, examine life expectancies and afterlives of financialized farms, further ground financial investment in concrete rural spaces, and explore individual motivations and belief systems of its proponents more seriously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to quantify the impact of environmental contamination on farmland valuation. It applies data fusion and hedonic pricing approaches to quantify the contribution of nitrogen and phosphorus loading on farmland sales transactions. It further suggests approaches to improve internalization of environmental cost in valuation approaches using shadow pricing. The work informs the field of environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing by fusing environmental data with financial transactions. Design/methodology/approach: This paper is an empirical study implementing hedonic pricing of farmland in the Lake Huron major drainage area. Data sources and fusion were derived from AcreValue, the United States Department of Agriculture's Gridded Soil Survey Geographic database (gSSURGO) and the United States Geological Survey's Spatially Referenced Regression on Watershed Attributes database (SPARROW). Findings: The results suggest that environmental contamination has statistically significant positive determination power on farmland prices such that prices increase with contamination. Conventional metrics such as percentage of cultivated land in the parcel, root zone depth, whether the parcel is designated by the Natural Resource Conservation Service as prime farmland, and the size of the farmland parcel contribution to farmland value as well. The results indicate that environmental impacts are not accurately accounted for in farmland transactions. Research limitations/implications: This paper points to inaccurate valuation of environmental contamination in farmland value. While geocoding allowed for positioning of farmland sales transactions relative to modeled areas of contaminant loading in the Lake Huron drainage area, the interpretation indicates that value is driven by cultivation. Hence, generalization to other areas needs a cautious approach. Empirical testing across locations and drainage areas with diverse farmland features will serve to verify the modeled data used in this study. Practical implications: The lack of integration of externalities in land valuation has implications on lending and disclosure practices, as financial service providers increasingly seek to account for ESG risk on their loan books and broader investment portfolios. The impact of farmland accounting practices for contamination such as shadow pricing may impact land valuation based on future cash flows, and may serve to inform sustainability-linked lending practices to farm operations. Originality/value: This is the first paper to fuse data from AcreValue, gSSURGO and SPARROW to discover the explanatory power of nutrient contamination in farmland value in the Lake Huron major drainage area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the years, monitoring soil moisture levels of farmlands has been performed manually. This is often time-consuming and inefficient, necessitating a solution that is efficient in controlling and monitoring soil moisture conditions. This work therefore proposes an Internet of Things (IoT)-based soil moisture monitor that observes soil moisture level using an Arduino Uno microcontroller and a Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) module to send data from the board to the user's cell phone or Personal Digital Assistant (PDA). The soil moisture monitor works by observing the water level of the soil and alerts the farmer when the predefined threshold rate of the moisture sensor goes above or below, thus indicating overwatering or underwatering. This process also involves sending data from the sensor to the cloud and then to the database server. Evaluation of the proposed soil moisture monitor using Thingspeak shows that the system is dynamic and efficient as it ensures water is not wasted. It is also cost effective as it eliminates the huge budget for hiring farm workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of high nature value farmland (HNVf) can effectively improve the problems of biodiversity reduction, non-point source pollution and carbon loss in intensive farmland. To this end, we developed a set of general indicators based on Landsat 8 OLI imagery, including land cover (LC), normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), Shannon diversity (SH) and Simpson's index (SI). Combined with a Kohonen neural network (KNN), we assigned weights and developed the first potential HNVf map of the Yellow River Delta in China. The results showed that the four indicators were very effective for the expression of HNVf characteristics in the study area, and that SH and SI, in particular, could reflect the potential characteristics of HNVf at the edge of intensive farmland. LC, NDVI, SH and SI were weighted as 0.45, 0.25, 0.15 and 0.15, respectively. It was found that the potential HNVf type 2 (i.e., low-intensity agriculture, and natural and structural elements such as shrubs, woodlands and small rivers) in the study area was concentrated at the edges of intensive farmland, the transition zones from farmland to rivers and the estuary wetland areas of northern and eastern rivers. LC played a leading role in identifying HNVf. Based on six randomly selected real-world verification data from Map World, it was found that the accuracy of the validation set for HNVf type 2 was 83.33%, which exhibited the good development potential of HNVf in the study area. This is the first potential HNVf type 2 map of the Yellow River Delta in China and could provide a great deal of potential guidance for the development and protection of farmland biodiversity and regional carbon sequestration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To explore ways to improve the level of sustainable intensification of farmland use, data collected from a survey of 416 farmers in five districts and one city in Hubei Province was analyzed. A DEA-BCC model was used to measure the level of sustainable intensification of farmland use and construct a conceptual model of farmers′ livelihood vulnerability, farmland value cognition, and farmland transfer affecting the level of sustainable intensification of farmland use. Structural equation modeling was used to fit the data. The results showed that the sustainable intensification of farmland use by farmers in the study area was low, with the average levels of transfer-in households, transfer-out households, and non-transfer households being 0.417, 0.351, and 0.310, respectively. The vulnerability of farmers′ livelihoods has no direct effect on the level of sustainable intensification of farmland use, and farmland value cognition has a positive and direct effect on the level of sustainable intensification of farmland use. Compared to farmers with low livelihood vulnerability, farmers with high livelihood vulnerability show higher cognition of farmland value due to their dependence on farmland, which indirectly positively affects the sustainable intensification of farmland use. However, relying only on this cognition of farmland value based on the perspective of individual needs cannot truly realize the sustainable intensification of farmland utilization. Farmland transfer has a positive moderating effect on the cognition of farmland value and the level of sustainable intensification of farmland use, which improves the conversion rate from cognition to behavior. Based on this, the recommendations of the study are： (1) encourage transfer-in to farmland, improve agricultural production subsidy policies, and reduce the livelihood vulnerability of farmers lacking agricultural resources; (2) improve social security system, strengthen non-agricultural skills training, and reduce the livelihood vulnerability of farmers affected by weaker production capacity; (3) improve the farmland transfer price evaluation system, and increase the value of farmland assets; (4) strengthen agricultural skills training to ensure the effectiveness of farmland transfer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conservation of natural capital on farms is being increasingly recognised as essential for addressing global biodiversity decline. At the same time, there is growing interest in the potential for natural capital on farms that generates high public benefits, to also generate private benefits, potentially fostering greater adoption of conservation practices on farms. Despite this, empirical analysis of private benefits of natural capital on farms remains limited. Addressing this gap can help in identifying conservation opportunities and selecting cost-effective policy mechanisms to deliver public good biodiversity conservation outcomes on private farmland. We present results from a hedonic model on private benefits associated with native woodland and bird biodiversity on commercial farmland in a critically endangered temperate woodland ecosystem in southeast Australia. Using quantile regression, we found significant heterogeneity in private benefits associated with such natural capital across farmland value quantiles. These private benefits increased from lower to upper land value quantiles, conditional on a range of attributes of the farmland parcel. In some instances, private costs were associated with enhancement of native woodland and bird biodiversity on farms, above even a very low baseline. We discuss the implications of these findings for targeting of investment and selection of policy mechanisms. • Private benefits of natural capital on farmland are estimated using quantile regression with 28,460 farmland parcel sales. • Private benefits of native woodland and bird biodiversity on farmland vary significantly across land value quantiles. • Native woodland is valued more highly by owners of small farmland parcels in the upper land value quantiles. • Native woodland and bird biodiversity on farmland in the lower value quantiles can be associated with private costs. • Accounting for heterogeneous private values of natural capital in policy programs can increase biodiversity conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forests provide ecosystem services (ES) that confer comparative advantages to the land market. The aim of research was to value forests that support ES in agricultural systems located in the Colombian Amazon piedmont. The hedonic price method was used to observe the influence of the forest on the price of farms and the contingent valuation method was used to find urban inhabitants' Willingness to Pay (WTP) for the conservation of the forests that guarantee these ES. Landowners identified carbon storage as the forest's main ES, but the price of the land did not reflect the economic benefits derived from these: the marginal WTP was - $ 964.4 dollars, a value that represents the opportunity cost of land use. However, the WTP per household was 0.33 dollars per year, a value that shows potential in the implementation of environmental conservation policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study assesses agricultural economics literature on farmland prices and key determinants of these prices. The first section of the paper uses a basic capitalization model to organize a review of the literature and data. We then provide a focused assessment of five streams of literature examining farmland prices: (1) boom‐bust; (2) the capitalization effect of government agricultural subsidies on farmland prices; (3) agricultural zoning; (4) climate change; and (5) prohibitions against non‐local buyers of farmland. Our review highlights challenges to ongoing efforts to model changing farmland prices, the modern emphasis on econometric identification, important variation in the magnitude of estimated relationships across the literature, and the opportunity to expand research in Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We identify hotspots of biocultural value on the national level in Slovakia in order: (1) to define indicators for the identification and evaluation of biocultural landscape types; (2) to analyze sites of natural and cultural heritage that create valuable biocultural landscapes, and (3) to identify hot-spots of biocultural landscape in Slovakia. Reflecting the transformation of original habitats, we distinguished five degrees of natural vegetation: three—sub-natural, quasi-natural and semi-natural—include habitats dependent on human management, areas of historical green infrastructure, and high environmental value farmland with the presence of natural/semi-natural habitats. We include natural or semi-natural landscape features, specifically arboreta, historical parks, and cultural monuments with historical green infrastructure among hotspots of biocultural value. Such areas have been preserved in 10.89% of urban or rural settlements in Slovakia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Geographical Indications (GIs) scheme is the EU's primary policy tool for increasing the market values of geographically distinct food products. Although GIs are linked to the landscapes of food production, little is known about the social-ecological values they represent, mainly due to a lack of spatial data. In this study, we, therefore, mapped all 638 food products labeled as Protected Designations of Origin (PDOs), using NUTS-3 areas as proxies for their actual extent, and correlated their distribution with 13 social-ecological indicators. By compiling this novel dataset, we show that the presence of PDOs strongly overlaps with environmental and cultural values. We reveal positive correlations of PDO frequency with high nature value farmland, semi-natural agriculture, tourism, and cultural heritage indicators. Further, we find that PDOs occur more often in economically weaker areas with older and declining populations. Besides differences in PDO distribution between northern and southern EU countries, we find different correlation patterns across the four largest food categories. For example, cheese and meat products are less correlated to environmental values compared to oils and fats, or fruit, vegetables and cereals. On that basis, we identify the potential of PDOs to support structurally deprived areas and propose PDOs as entry points for sustainable transformation and rural development policies—while simultaneously contributing to the conservation of cultural landscapes and their associated environmental values. As outlined in the Green Deal of the European Union and its Farm to Fork strategy, PDOs should be a part of this transformation. Based on the results of this study, we discuss more specifically for which production systems and under what enabling conditions PDOs are fit for this challenge. We recommend that future governance interventions for a sustainable transformation of EU's agriculture should take the differences across regions and product categories into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use a unique dataset from Malawi that matches tenants and their landlord counterparts to document the role played by absentee tenants, i.e. tenants who reside outside the area where the rented land is located. We found that non-local tenants made up 22% of the tenants in our sample. A significant subset of them had higher off-farm income and significantly more assets than did other tenants. Conversely, we found that 76% of landlords rented land because they needed cash. Our results highlight the fact that some rental transactions reinforce power imbalances and may exacerbate risks faced by poorer landlords. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Beginning farmers and ranchers (BFRs) are more likely to access land through an unrelated landowner than through family. Thus, farm and ranch owners who might transfer their land or businesses out of family are potential sources of land access for BFRs and are the most frequent participants in incentive programs to facilitate land transfer to BFRs. To assist in identifying landowners who might transfer out of family, the paper aims to explore similarities and differences between landowners according to their expectations for intra-familial versus extra-familial farm transfer. Design/methodology/approach: Pairwise and regression analysis of USA Midwestern and Plains landowners' responses to an online survey (n = 322). Findings: Landowners who might transfer out of family were likely to need the proceeds from a land sale to finance their retirement. Landowners' financial needs interacted with their widespread interest in transferring to a BFR such that 97% of owners who expected extra-familial transfer wanted to transfer to a BFR. There were also statistical patterns around the size of owners' landholdings in relation to their transfer plans. Research limitations/implications: This exploratory inquiry suggests patterns for future research to examine, especially around landowners' juxtaposition of their retirement income and their interest in transferring to a BFR and how to align these priorities and values. Originality/value: By exploring the characteristics of landowners who are the most likely to provide land access to BFRs, the authors begin to examine how to target these owners in program outreach. Patterns for further exploration point to landowners' financial needs in relation to their interest in helping a BFR to get started in agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to investigate how land tenure correlates with measures of profitability among young farmers and ranchers in the United States. The authors hypothesize that young producers who own a larger proportion of their operation face different incentives between short- and long-run returns than young producers who primarily rent their land. The authors analyze whether these differing incentives result in observable differences in various measures of profitability. Design/methodology/approach: The authors use state-level data from the Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS) from 2003 to 2018 to estimate fixed-effects panel models correlating land tenure with the value of farm production, expenditures on repairs and maintenance, net farm income, total operator household income from farming, rate of return on assets (ROA) and rate of return on equity (ROE). Findings: The authors find different correlations for crop farms and livestock farms, as well as different correlations for farms with the lowest and highest gross sales. For crop farms, renting land is associated with higher production, higher income, higher ROA and higher ROE. For livestock farms, renting land is associated with lower production. Originality/value: This study rigorously investigates the role of land tenure specifically among young farmers and ranchers in the United States. By better understanding how land ownership affects profitability among beginning farmers and ranchers, policymakers will be able to better target public resources to support the next generation of producers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the paper we provide an analysis of the potential of agricultural holdings for biomass production, an assessment of the level of farm sustainability and a description of the farming conditions of agricultural holdings depending on the degree of natural valuation of a given area. The approach makes it possible to assess the level of sustainability of farms, also in the context of their potential and taking into account the quality of the production space and its importance for increasing biodiversity. We use public and unpublished data of Statistics Poland (2005, 2007, 2016) as well as data on farms keeping accounts for the Polish FADN in 2016–2018. The paper shows that although concentration processes are progressing, farm productivity is increasing, but this is linked to specialisation, leading to efficient management of labour and land resources. Nevertheless, the decreasing number of farms with proper winter vegetation cover and optimal balances was confirmed. The farming conditions of the farms should take into account the share and degree of natural value of the production space of the areas (municipalities) in which they are located. The study found that farms in municipalities with a high share of high natural value farmland (HNVf) areas, compared to the other municipalities, characterized by lower livestock density per ha UAA, which indicates their less intensive organisation of agricultural production. Moreover, in these municipalities, as their natural value increased, the share of forests and waters in the total area increased and the share of permanent grassland in the total area decreased slightly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Farming systems under contrasting management practices can contribute differently to the delivery of bundles of ecosystem services (ES) in agricultural landscapes. Low intensity farming systems, such as High Nature Value farmlands, are expected to deliver a wider range of ES, whereas landscapes under more intensive management are expected to deliver mainly provisioning services. Understanding the management practices associated with desirable outcomes in terms of biodiversity and ES in agricultural landscapes is needed. Our research aimed to understand the links between the delivery of ES bundles associated with agricultural landscapes, and their socio-ecological drivers, using a region in northern Portugal as a case study. Based on publicly available data on ecosystems services and drivers, we analyzed ES associations, delineated ES bundles, and investigated their relationship with socioecological drivers. Overall, our results suggested spatial trade-offs between landscapes delivering provisioning services of high economic value, and landscapes delivering a more balanced set of multiple ES. Bundle analysis highlighted an association between higher landscape multifunctionality and higher values of landscape complexity, higher number of farmers, and farm sizes. Our results reflected the complexity of social and ecological factors operating at the landscape level, pinpointed landscapes with higher multifunctionality and disclosed the conditions underlying their occurrence. The results also highlighted the importance of low-intensity farming systems, namely those supporting High Nature Value farmlands, for the delivery of a wider range of ES at the landscape scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses resource curse thesis and political resource curse. Topics discussed including the notion that material factors act as prime casual elements, drawing upon the vast and well-established literature that looks to material factors as underpinning social change and individual incentives, and changing material and ideational factors smashing their way through a kinetic period of history.

The licensed cannabis industry represents one of the top five most economically valued agricultural commodities in California, yet farming largely remains on remote, environmentally sensitive, "marginal" lands. Using mixed methods, this paper examines the determinants of this marginalization, their embedded elaboration, and their relation to historical policy regimes. We used Generalized Additive Models (GAMs) to determine the most important predictors of licensed cannabis industry development since the inception of a statewide licensing program in 2018 and to compare the distribution of licensed cannabis to other forms of rural agriculture, including vineyards and pasture, to understand landscape factors and environmental sensitivity of land uses. We found that a county's median income and the extent of traditional (non-cannabis) agriculture, as measured by the proportion of on-farm (non-cannabis) employment, were both negatively associated with its amount of licensed cannabis agriculture. Ethnographic data suggests that cannabis is often excluded from traditional agricultural areas, through formal local-level bans, restrictive zoning, high "prime" farmland values, and cultural exclusions from other powerful resource users. The resulting relegation to "marginal" lands foments conflicts with amenity land users and environmentalists, even as it partly supports "legacy" cultivators whose farms were established under prior policy regimes. Results suggest that cannabis is more likely to be grown under conditions that introduce regulatory hurdles, including farming on steeper slopes, with natural streams onsite, and without access to large groundwater aquifers for irrigation. Our findings suggest that failure to allow licensed cannabis farming in traditional agriculture regions has led to a self-fulfilling prophecy wherein cannabis cultivation is largely relegated to environmentally sensitive areas where cultivation activity has an elevated tendency for environmental impacts. • Cannabis cultivation occurs outside conventional agricultural areas on "marginal" land. • Counties with higher incomes and more traditional agriculture issue fewer licenses. • Non-cannabis land users drive cannabis licensing restrictions. • Marginalization of cannabis produces environmental conflict and marginalizes farmers. • Marginal land use is socially and geographically produced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The setting of farmland prices in the market not only reflects existing agricultural activities but also expected potential for development. This study decomposes farmland prices into values representative of current agricultural production and the prospective development potential at the county level in South Korea. The income value of farmland is derived by analysing agricultural revenue and production cost, and the sale value of farmland is estimated by reviewing transaction prices filed with the administrative authority. The difference between income value and sale value is adopted as the development value in this study. The results of the estimation show that the proportion of development value in the price of farmland is remarkably high, with a median proportion of 0.78, indicating that the threat of converting land to non-agricultural use is non-trivial because it remains a financially attractive alternative. In addition, the magnitude of the portion of the development value in the price of farmland varies considerably across counties depending on the distance to nearby metropolitan cities. This implies that agricultural policy should be designed in a locally optimised manner to effectively restrain the conversion of farmland for urban use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The garden dormouse Eliomys quercinus has been declining in both abundance and range since the mid-twentieth century. The eastern edge of its range has contracted from the Ural Mountains to eastern Germany. Habitat loss and fragmentation has been the most supported theory to explain the observed decline. Climate change has been implicated in declines of other terrestrial mammals, but not investigated for E. quercinus. To better understand the factors influencing the distribution of this species and to map habitat suitability for E. quercinus across Europe, we created a Maxent species distribution model. Among the main environmental variables used for the modelling, two novel climate change indicator variables were produced to indicate the degree of climate change between the early twentieth century and the present. Areas of high suitability were mapped, and variable importance estimated using jackknife tests and variable contribution metrics. The climate change indicators outperformed many conventional variables, which could indicate that climate change is a factor behind the current distribution of E. quercinus. We also analysed the land use types where presence points of E. quercinus were located and whether they were in areas of "high nature value farmland". Over 30% of all spatially filtered presence points corresponded to high nature value farmland areas. Our results could indicate a role for changing climate (particularly in temperature) in the range decline E. quercinus, and for high nature value farmland practices in conserving this species. Field studies and improved monitoring for this species are recommended to confirm both possible findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper quantifies the effects of recent Federal Reserve interest rate changes, specifically recent hikes and cuts in the federal funds rate since 2015, on Midwest farmland values. Design/methodology/approach: The authors apply three autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) models to a panel data of state-level farmland values from 1963 to 2018 to estimate the dynamic effects of interest rate changes on the US farmland market. We focus on the I-states, Lakes states and Great Plains states. The models in the study capture both short-term and long-term impacts of policy changes on land values. Findings: The authors find that changes in the federal funds rate have long-lasting impacts on farmland values, as it takes at least a decade for the full effects of an interest rate change to be capitalized in farmland values. The results show that the three recent federal funds rate cuts in 2019 were not sufficient to offset the downward pressures from the 2015–2018 interest rate hikes, but the 2020 cut is. The combined effect of the Federal Reserve's recent interest rate moves on farmland values will be positive for some time starting in 2022. Originality/value: This paper provides the first empirical quantification of the immediate and long-run impacts of recent Federal Reserve interest rate moves on farmland values. The authors demonstrate the long-lasting repercussions of Federal Reserve's policy choices in the farmland market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The paper examines the factors that influence the production of cash flows in a sample of Italian farm accountancy data network (FADN) farms to generate information useful for calibrating policies to support farmers' investments. Design/methodology/approach: An econometric analysis on the sample estimates the influence of structural, economic, commercial and financial variables on CAFFE, i.e. the cash flow that includes the payments to the farmer's resources and the free cash flow on equity (FCFE). The econometric problem of endogeneity is treated by adopting the Hausman test to choose between fixed and random effects models. The results for Italian agriculture and its types of farming (TFs) are examined based on the FCFE/capital depreciation ratio, where FCFE subtracts from CAFFE the opportunity cost payments to the farmer's resources. This ratio identifies TFs with problems of sustainability of the production system. Findings: The results show that increasing the productive dimension, in particular the endowment of farmland and working capital, is still essential to stimulate the production of cash flows of Italian agriculture. Without this growth, increasing the depreciable capital base is ineffective. FCFE does not compensate for depreciation in several TFs, which in various cases could also improve by improving economic efficiency and commercial position. Research limitations/implications: Assessing the factors that most influence cash flows can help to better calibrate rural development measures to the territories and farming types that most need public support. Our analysis procedure can be applied to all production systems equipped with farm accounting networks; however, the criteria for rewarding farmer resources and calculating the replacement value of agricultural capital need to be better discussed. Originality/value: The specification of rural development policies rarely takes into account the financial sustainability conditions of farms, as well as the factors that determine them, in defining the support parameters and the selection criteria for funding. Our approach, based on the analysis of FADN data, considers these aspects and provides ideas for better calibrating public support for investments among agricultural territories, sectors and types of farms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: From the perspective of land mortgages, the purpose of this paper is to understand how farmers can be motivated to utilize environment-friendly formula fertilizers, thereby reducing the use of chemical fertilizers. Design/methodology/approach: Two hypotheses are empirically tested using questionnaire responses from 714 farmers across three provinces in China to establish the relationship and to determine the role land rent plays. Findings: This study finds that farmers who obtain land mortgages will be more willing to apply formula fertilizers in order to obtain higher value of their "own" land. This is because obtaining land mortgages can be considered as the process of titling land management rights. Farmers who have been transferred the land by verbal agreement no longer need to worry about losing it at any time. Hence, they are willing to apply formula fertilizers on their transferred land. Similarly, farmers who have been transferred the land by written contract to obtain more land mortgages will also be willing because the formula fertilizers can not only improve the quality of their transferred land, but also increase its value as collateral. This mechanism is clearer in the area where the average land rent is relatively lower. Originality/value: No study has yet linked the reform of land mortgages to environmentally friendly behavior. While other studies have focused on the way access to credit changes farmer investments and spending, this particular relationship has not yet been formalized, giving this study theoretical and empirical significance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Colias myrmidone is extinct in most European countries of its historic range, and few populations remain in Poland, Slovakia, and Romania. In Romania, this butterfly occurs in traditional farming landscapes of Transylvania dominated by high nature value (HNV) grassland. Parts of these landscapes were recently designated as Natura 2000 areas. In this article, we share insights from our engagement in these Natura 2000 areas, in which agricultural intensification as well as abandonment threaten the survival of Colias myrmidone. We unravel which factors hinder the effective conservation of this rare farmland and ecotone species despite the legally binding nature of Natura 2000 and financial support for HNV grassland in Romania through the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Firstly, current financial incentives to maintain low-intensity agricultural practices are insufficient to avert land-use intensification or abandonment. Secondly, a lack of knowledge of the wider landscape beyond target areas limits our understanding of population dynamics and dispersal, which impedes the ability to inform conservation management adequately. Thirdly, the target areas have unclear governance arrangements regarding responsibilities and powers, which prevents transparent collaboration and management structures. To improve support for the HNV systems that are crucial for the conservation of endangered species of traditional agricultural landscapes at the local level, we recommend greater collaboration in conservation governance with small-scale farmers, co-development of management plans, and a shift toward results-based payments for conservation actions. At the EU level, we recommend adapting the CAP to genuinely support small-scale farming and to establish a pan-European monitoring scheme for indicator species of HNV farmland such as Colias myrmidone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Across publicly owned natural resources, the practice of recovering financial compensation, commonly known as resource rent, from extractive industries influences wealth distribution and general welfare of society. Catch shares are the primary approach adopted to diminish the economically wasteful race to fish by allocating shares of fish quotas--public assets--to selected fishing firms. It is perceived that resource rent is concentrated within catch share fisheries, but there has been no systematic comparison of rent-charging practices with other extractive industries. Here, we estimate the global prevalence of catch share fisheries and compare rent recovery mechanisms (RRM) in the fishing industry with other extractive industries. We show that while catch share fisheries harvest 17.4 million tons (19% of global fisheries landings), with a value of 17.7 billion USD (17% of global fisheries landed value), rent charges occurred in only 5 of 18 countries with shares of fish quotas primarily allocated free of charge. When compared with other extractive industries, fishing is the only industry that consistently lacks RRM. While recovering resource rent for harvesting well-governed fishery resources represents a source of revenue to coastal states, which could be sustained indefinitely, overcharging the industry might impact fish supply. Different RRM occurred in extractive industries, though generally, rent-based charges can help avoid affecting deployment of capital and labor to harvest fish since they depend on the profitability of the operations. Our study could be a starting point for coastal states to consider adapting policies to the enhanced economic condition of the fishing industry under catch shares. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In much of sub-Saharan Africa, soil quality heterogeneity hampers farmer learning about the returns to different inputs. This may help explain why relatively few farmers in the region use improved inputs. We study how Kenyan farmers respond to an interactive app that enables them to discover the returns to different inputs on a virtual farm that is calibrated to resemble their own. Farmers update both their beliefs and their behaviors after engaging with the virtual learning app. We measure beliefs by eliciting probability distributions and use an incentive-compatible experiment to measure behavior change. The experiment gave participants an input budget that they could allocate across farm inputs. After playing several virtual seasons on the app, they could update these allocations. Farmers revise their input allocations along several dimensions after the virtual learning experience. To support our interpretation that these adjustments stem from real learning, we show that farmers with the highest predicted returns to lime—an unfamiliar input in this region—increase their lime orders more than others. Our results suggest that engagement with a personalized virtual platform can induce real learning and enhance farmers' beliefs and technology choices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although much has been written about Indigenous land tenure in the Americas, colonial Andeanists still debate whether pre-Hispanic agropastoral communities held all pasture and farmland in common and, therefore, whether novel forms of private or individual control over land and its products were introduced only in the aftermath of the Iberian conquest. The alleged particularities of the Andean case vis-a`-vis other regions for which historians accept a plurality of pre-Hispanic and postconquest land regimes are based on a twin set of oppositions: individual versus collective, and ownership versus use. In this essay, I reassess communal land tenure patterns through the lens of Native colonial customs of commoning and uncommoning. I contend that individual and communal aspects of land within Native collectives were not opposite ends of a spectrum but instead coterminous ways of acting on—that is, exerting power and control over—the same resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a case study which examined the property taxation in Pennsylvania and the International Association of Assessing Officers' (IAAO) Standard on Property Tax Policy, Standard on Mass Appraisal of Real Property and Standard on Oversight Agency Responsibilities. Topics include the state's decentralized and complex property tax system and the endorsement by state courts including the Supreme Court of the IAAO standards.

It has become common to explore farmer motivations for adopting land management changes on a scale from intrinsic to extrinsic, including in studies on "motivation crowding" that examine how external incentives can undermine or reinforce a farmer's intrinsic reasons for protecting nature. We set out to do the same in a study on riparian management for the conservation of a species at risk in Nova Scotia, Canada. In our survey of 553 farmers in Nova Scotia, we received surprising results: similar agreement with statements on motivations to use riparian setbacks when wildlife is mentioned. All these statements corresponded to internal motivations found at the intrinsic end of the scale used. We postulate that environmental values associated with 'wildlife' triggered the positive responses. Environmental values influence farmer motivations toward conservation. We propose future studies on farmer motivations for adopting land management changes combine a scale on motivations with a scale on environmental values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Excessive accumulation of trace elements in the protected cultivation soil has become an important factor for the degradation of soil quality. In particular, both copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) are micronutrient elements required for plant growth and heavy metal in the soil environment. It is highly demanding to consider the Cu, Zn cumulative risks. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the accumulation characteristics and risk prediction of Cu, Zn content in the protected cultivation soil. A total of 131 soil samples were also collected using 5-point sampling in the typical regions of 16 cities in 7 provinces and 1 autonomous region (including Liaoning, Hebei, Shandong, Henan, Shaanxi,, Jiangsu, Yunnan, and Ningxia) in China. The cumulative status and risk characteristics of Cu and Zn were systematically analyzed using the total and available content of the soil. The relationship between the accumulation of available Cu, Zn, and the planting years was fitted to predict the risk of Cu and Zn accumulation exceeding the limit value. The results showed that: 1) The total Cu and Zn exhibited an accumulative characteristic in the protected cultivation soil, except that Cu presented a slight decrease in Jiangsu. The effective state content of Cu and Zn (except that Zn at a relatively rich level both in Shaanxi and Jiangsu) reached an extremely rich level, where there was no state below the critical value. Noted that the soil background values in each province were compared with the abundance and deficiency indexes of soil available trace elements in the agricultural system. 2) The total amount of Cu and Zn in the soil exceeded the standard by 16.03% and 4.58%, respectively, compared with the screening value of farmland soil. The average exceeding limit rate reached 16.92%, while Liaoning, Henan and Yunnan were observed the most serious up to 33.33%, 62.50%, and 32.00%, respectively, compared with the risk limits of soil available Cu and Zn. 3) The risk assessment showed that the overall performance of protected cultivation soil was safe using the effective state. The samples from Liaoning, Henan, and Yunnan reached the level of lightly, lightly pollution, and warning value level, respectively. The cumulative risks of elemental Cu were more serious than Zn element. 4) There was a significant positive correlation between the accumulations of soil available Cu and Zn with the corresponding planting years (P<0.05). The continuous replanting for 6.7, 20.5, and 19.3 years led to the accumulation of available Cu in soils with acidic, neutral, and alkaline limit values of characteristics reach risk, respectively, under the current protected cultivated conditions. At the same time, the continuous replanting for 32.5, 67.9, 91.9 years led to the accumulation of available Zn in the soils with acidic, neutral, and alkaline limit values of characteristic reach risk. The bioavailable state of trace element was used to evaluate the exceeding limit rate of Cu and Zn, while the cumulative risk in the protected cultivated soil, in order to achieve the safe utilization via transforming the excess bioavailable to low state, (such as residue, oxidizable, and reducible state). Therefore, there was a high risk in the accumulations of Cu and Zn in the protected cultivated soil in the practice, where the trends were ever increasing year by year. Consequently, it is necessary to take reasonable and safe measures (including restoration technology and selection of agricultural materials), further to ensure the healthy and sustainable development of protected cultivated agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last 30 years, numerous studies analysed the factors that affect land prices mainly using the Hedonic Pricing method. These studies have shown that many factors can affect land prices (e.g. land and surrounding territory characteristics, accessibility, proximity to urban area, etc.). However, they rarely addressed the analysis of the reliability of the models by comparing the estimated values to the observed one. Attempting to face this problem, our study analysed the land market of the "Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore PGDO" area. Despite the quite high coefficient of determination (r² = 0.76) and statistical significance of the model parameters, we found that the percentage absolute deviation between observed and estimated value is higher than 30% in 34% of cases. Our results seem to suggest that future researches should devote particular attention to the analysis of the discrepancies existing between estimated values and market prices in order to support the appraisal activity of professional valuers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early evidence suggests that Canadian farmland values increased in 2020. Farming returns were not negatively impacted by COVID‐19 and it appears as though farming returns will be strong into 2021. Low interest rates in 2020 contributed to substantial farmland value increases in the last half of 2020. There is some evidence that the development component of farmland values increased in 2020. The future consequences of COVID‐19 on farmland values are unclear. Some economists suggest that future inflationary risks have increased. A return to inflation rates comparable to those experienced in the 1970s is unlikely, but if increased inflation does materialize it will put upward pressure on farmland values, while increases in nominal and real interest rates will push farmland values down. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Future conventional and renewable energy production will predominantly occur on farmland, resulting in economic gains as well as potential negative externalities for farmland owners and rural communities. However there is limited research on the economic impact of energy production that takes place on farmland. This study uses the discrete change in expectations caused by the 2008 New York State moratorium on hydraulic fracturing to investigate the net impact of shale gas development on farmland values. We use a difference-in-differences empirical design with a hedonic pricing model. We find that the moratorium led to net economic losses for rural landowners in New York's Southern tier, as reflected in farmland values declining approximately $1,400/acre. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Feral cat management needs cooperation, including financial support, from a variety of stakeholders. We used a payment card approach to investigate the willingness of tourists to donate to non-lethal feral cat management at a potential natural World Heritage site on Amami Oshima Island in Japan. We found that more than 80% of tourists intended to donate funds to non-lethal feral cat management, and the mean willingness to donate was about USD $14 (1374.1 JPY). The rate of participation in the donation was higher than that found in previous studies, and the amount of intention to donate was large enough to support non-lethal cat management. Respondent income and attitudes toward lethal options affected intentions to donate. Those who valued the island farmland also had a higher intention to donate. Our findings provide useful information for the implementation of feral cat management strategies to conserve biodiversity while minimizing conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the wake of the substantial increases in farmland values that have occurred in Ontario since 2008, concerns have been expressed regarding the potential influence of nonfarmer buyers, such as investment companies and foreign buyers, on prices paid for farmland. To examine whether these concerns may be warranted, this paper estimates the impact of nonfarmer buyers on sale prices for farmland in Ontario, using a hedonic approach and farmland sales data from 2002 to 2016. Analysis is also conducted to determine whether marginal implicit prices of specific farm attributes differ between farmer buyers and nonfarmer buyers. The results indicate that nonfarmer buyers have paid higher prices for farmland, but only in near‐urban areas. In addition, differences in marginal implicit prices for farmland attributes are found, where farmer buyers value more highly attributes related to the agricultural productivity of the property while nonfarmer buyers value more highly attributes related to nonagricultural use. These results imply that the higher prices paid by nonfarmers may be attributable to the bid‐rent theory, as nonfarmers may be bidding more than farmers for farmland in near‐urban areas due to higher expected returns from future urban use of the land. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effective conservation of high nature value farmland (HNV) will be crucial for the conservation of European and Irish biodiversity, and to meet the growing demand for a wide range of private and public goods and services from farmland. Here, we describe the evolution of policy and management of HNV farmland in the Republic of Ireland over the last 25 years and describe the emerging locally adapted, results-based payment approach that is valorizing a broad range of ecosystem services from these areas, which helps to underpin the future social, ecological, and financial viability of HNV farmland. HNV farmland in the Republic of Ireland covers approximately 33% of the agricultural land, and 50% of these areas coincide with Natura 2000 land. A broad diversity of landscape types dominated by seminatural vegetation from upland areas to lowland areas is a key challenge when designing policy support for HNV farmland areas. To date, action-based agri-environment schemes have struggled to adapt to these conditions, and to provide sufficient incentive and flexibility to deliver the desired environmental outcomes. In response, several projects and programs have implemented results-based payments, which we illustrate using three case studies from the Burren Programme, the Results Based Agri-environment Pilot Scheme (RBAPS), and European Innovation Partnership Operational Groups: The Hen Harrier and Pearl Mussel Projects. We highlight choices in the design and implementation of these case studies that aimed to better achieve the environmental objectives. We conclude with general lessons from the Irish experience with results-based approaches, and how they may be scaled up for wider implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Introduction to the joint special issue of land economics (LE) and the journal of housing economics (JHE) focused on property value applications using Zillow's ZTRAX data. • ZTRAX is a real estate–focused database with over 400 million public records spanning nearly all U.S. counties across more than 30 years. • Includes comments from Zillow. • This special issue contains seven papers that use the ZTRAX data. Four consider environmental issues: flooding, chemical accidents, and green space, two analyze farmland values and one looks at property tax salience. • All these papers take advantage of the scope of the ZTRAX data to carry out broad geographic analyses that have not been previously undertaken in their respective literatures. This is the Introduction for the joint special issue of Land Economics (LE) and the Journal of Housing Economics (JHE) focused on property value applications using Zillow's ZTRAX data. ZTRAX is a real estate–focused database with over 400 million public records spanning nearly all U.S. counties across more than 30 years. The spatially explicit data on deed transfers, sale prices, and property characteristics has provided the basis for analyses on themes such as disaster risks, including wildfires, flooding, and chemical accidents; natural resources, including water quality, farmland, and coal; and land uses, such as open space, national parks, and critical habitat designation, among others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A substantial increase in electricity demand has triggered a rising investment in energy infrastructure in the US over the last decade. This paper examines the capitalization effects of electricity transmission lines (TMLs) on nearby farmland values and housing prices in the Midwest from 2015 to 2019, based on 16,026 parcel-level farmland sales data from FarmlandFinder and 1,905,280 housing transaction data from the Zillow Transaction and Assessment Dataset database. Our estimation results reaffirm the disamenity effects of TMLs on housing property values and find that the disamenity effects are larger on houses in urban areas than in rural areas. Nearby TMLs generate premiums for surrounding farmland, which contrasts with the disamenity evidence due to aesthetics (either visual or audible) in the literature. We further show that farmland parcels within 0–2 km of TMLs in high-wind areas are approximately 3.10% more expensive than comparable parcels in low-wind areas. Our paper provides novel and contrarian evidence on the effects of TMLs on property values amid rising investment in energy infrastructure. • This paper examines the capitalization effects of electricity transmission lines (TMLs) in US Midwest housing and farmland prices. • The analysis is based on nearly 20,000 farmland sales transactions and 2.5 million Zillow housing sales from 2015 to 2019. • TMLs are disamenities for urban housing prices, but generate premium for farmland prices. • The premium of TMLs in farmland markets are stronger in high-wind-resource areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Land use change projections are important tools for land use planning and the implementation of farmland protection policies as they identify agricultural lands that are most at risk of being developed and help inform conservation priorities. However, these projections are highly dependent on their underlying assumptions and market trends. Since socioeconomic shocks can alter market trends, it is critical to assess the need to projections if these underlying assumptions and trends no longer hold. The goal of this paper is to assess how the COVID-19 pandemic may have altered land use projections, particularly housing demand at the urban-agricultural interface. • This paper uses ZTRAX program U.S. housing transaction data and novel, nationwide land-use projections to conduct a national hedonic difference-in-difference analysis to investigate how the COVID-19 pandemic has altered development pressure at the urban-agricultural margin. The analysis includes state-level analyses for 33 states and a national analysis with a sample of 3.7 million property transactions that occurred outside of highly developed areas. • We use the land use projections to define treatment and control groups, such that treated parcels are those in an area that is projected to be developed by 2040 ("high-risk"), and control parcels are all other parcels in our sample. • We find evidence that following the pandemic onset development pressure has decreased in areas projected to be developed. We also find evidence that this pattern holds in areas of high development risk around cities larger than 50,000 people, but around small cities, with less than 50,000 people, we find evidence that development pressure has increased in these areas projected to be developed. • Updated land use protections provide vital information for land-use planners and policy makers at state and local levels, where the majority of land use planning and policy decisions occur, which motivates our state-level analyses, which is the focus of our paper. As human populations grow, one strategy for meeting housing demand is through the development of agricultural land and other open space, which can generate negative externalities. This may be addressed at local, state, or federal levels with land-use planning, including farmland preservation policies. Efficient land-use planning in the presence of competing land uses requires knowledge of development risk, housing preferences, and the full costs of farmland loss. We conduct a national scale hedonic analysis using the ZTRAX program U.S. housing transaction data to investigate how COVID-19 has affected property prices in suburban and rural areas with farmland at high risk of development, for the purpose of understanding the effects of COVID-19 driven shifts in housing location preferences. Our analysis demonstrates that the pandemic caused differential price impacts across the 33 states that we analyzed. Furthermore, our estimates suggest heterogeneous price effects driven by the characteristics of nearby urban areas, with prices appreciating faster on land at risk located near smaller urban areas than those near larger urban areas. Our analysis finds that the spatial pattern of development pressure on agricultural lands, as measured through transaction prices, changed in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Farmland ESV requires different methods and local information. • Crop rotation practices generate higher ESV than mono-cropping. • Crop rotation practices increase nutrient cycling and pollination services. • Land use policies affect the spatial distribution of farmland ESV. Farmland can provide various ecosystem services such as food production, groundwater recharge, and carbon storage. However, the overall value of farmland ecosystem services and differences in their spatial distribution are rarely studied, particularly with regard to farmland with crop rotations. In this study, we developed an assessing framework for appraising the overall value of ecosystem services of farmland with crop rotations on the basis of Costanza's global ecosystem service valuation method. Changhua County in central Taiwan is used as a case study to estimate the impact of land use change on its farmland ecosystem services. We also applied the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) model to analyze the spatial distribution of individual ecosystem services. Results from the global ecosystem service value method indicates that land use change in the study area caused a steady decline in overall farmland ecosystem service value between 1981 and 2021. However, if the practice of farmland crop rotation is included, the proposed method for evaluating ecosystem services of farmland indicate an increase in total ecosystem service value (ESV). The overall ecosystem services of farmland with crop rotations assessed was between 1.27 and 1.69-fold higher than the gross domestic product (GDP) for farming in the region and between 17 and 45.3-fold higher than the agricultural expenditure reported by the local government. The findings of this study also suggest local government can reference the spatial distributions of ecosystem service to dynamically adjust subsidies and resources for farmland, thereby enhancing agricultural governance and achieving sustainability goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Existing spatial agrobiodiversity indicators overlap in only few EU locations. • Low agrobiodiversity areas are more correlated than agrobiodiversity hotspots. • The indicators' response to land use change scenarios is highly variable. • Indicator choice may cause divergent research results and affect conservation plans. Agriculture plays a dual role in the conservation of European biodiversity, as extensive agricultural lands provide habitats for more than half of Europe's species, but intensification and abandonment of farmland threaten these species' habitats. Consequently, the preservation of agrobiodiversity, i.e., biodiversity on agricultural land, is increasingly the focus of conservation strategies. Agrobiodiversity is a complex and multi-dimensional concept, which begets that there currently is no consistent definition, measurement framework, or high-resolution spatial indicator that covers all facets of agrobiodiversity (genetic, species, and ecosystem). Furthermore, existing indicators have not been compared in terms of the areas the indicators identify as having high agrobiodiversity value. The objective of this study was, therefore, to compare four agrobiodiversity indicators, representing species and ecosystem levels of agrobiodiversity, by mapping them on extensive agricultural land in Europe and comparing them with the High Nature Value Farmland (HNVF) map. We mapped hotspots for each indicator and performed a pairwise Fuzzy Numerical map comparison. The findings show only moderate spatial similarity between indicators, where similarities mainly reflect correspondence in coldspot areas as well as low hotspot agreement with the well-established HNVF map. The results further indicate correspondence between hotspots for all indicators and HNVF on less than 1,500 km2 (or less than 0.005% of extensive European farmland). The indicators' sensitivity to land-use change scenarios was also evaluated, revealing up to ± 50% difference in scenario response, depending on the chosen indicator, which could lead to inconsistent scenario outcomes. The results of this novel study highlight the importance of clearly defining agrobiodiversity before mapping and selecting an indicator for measuring it, especially if such analysis intends to identify priority areas for policy targeting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]