Impacts of Nitrogen Control Policies on Crop and Livestock Farms at Two Ohio Farm Sites

Empirical studies have noted that relatively small changes in farm management practices can significantly reduce emissions of agricultural effluents (Johnson, Adams, and Perry; Taylor, Adams, and Miller; Moxey and White). Farmers may voluntarily adopt these practices because they require few adjustments and have little or no cost. Total reliance on voluntary measures to control agricultural emissions, however, has been criticized because they are unable to lower emissions to acceptable levels (General Accounting Office; Malik, Larson, and Ribaudo). Hence, regulations such as emission standards, taxes on inputs, and taxes on estimated effluents have been suggested. One aim of these policies is to change farmers' management practices which would then lead to declines in emissions of