The Power of Incentives, from France to North Carolina

The first case I chose was from the Colby database under Agriculture. The focal question asked by this case is: Does farmer behavior matter in determining the supply of environmental benefits? Shortly after World War 2, European countries were having serious problems with farmers unable to accumulate sufficient income, stifling agricultural growth. The CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) implemented a price floor to let farmers sell their crops for higher-than-market prices, which ultimately ended disastrously with a huge surplus of crops and low global prices for these products. While CAP reformed their policies, they realized the need to protect the environment from the heavy-use of farming in the area. They realized this wasn’t a form of sustainable development, and to fix this they implemented incentives for farmers to implement eco-friendly processes. The success of these programs were determined entirely by the amount of participation from farmers, even when the government promised to pay for any income lost from the practice. Older farmers (who were set in their ways) were less likely to implement the practice than younger farmers were.

http://personal.colby.edu/personal/t/thtieten/Nasim.htm

My second case comes from the University of Michigan, an environmental justice article about hogs in North Carolina. North Carolina has more hogs today than ever, all pent up in farms made to contain and breed them for food. The waste from these hogs is abundant. It is stored in large “lagoons” which can be up to 10 acres of surface area and as a deep as 12 feet. These lagoons are claimed to be leak-proof, the sludge from the waste would sink to the bottom of the lagoon and seal it shut. Even the Division of Environmental Management claims they are perfectly safe, yet a N.C. State study says they are insufficient and pollute waterways. It claims that sandy areas especially are easily permeable for the lagoons to leak out into essential water ways and underground wells. These lagoons are rich in nitrogen and when they leak into nearby rivers or other waterways, algae can grow and explode in number, which eat the oxygen in the water and kill wildlife around it. This is an environmental justice issue that current policies don’t effectively cover. There needs to be some policy in place to incentivize these hogs farmers to push them to add these protections to the environment.

http://www.umich.edu/~snre492/statter.html

I have lived my whole life in Southern New Jersey, a place where farms are very abundant. Whenever there is human development, there are often conflicts with the health of the environment. Agricultural growth in New Jersey isn’t defined by large development, but instead compact development. The impact of New Jersey farmers on the environment can be related both to the hog farmers of North Carolina and the farmers in France. The idea of compact development can interfere with local suburbs and bring up health risks concerning the proximity to pesticides and other wastes. The use of too many farms all within proximity to each other can cause damage to the natural ecosystems by developing over them and draining soil nutrition in the surrounding areas. Both are related to the two case studies, the Hog farming and French farmers respectively. We can learn from these two cases that we need policies that incentivize sustainable developmetn and environemtnal justice through an economic means. Farmers in New Jersey to farmers in France to farmers of hogs in North Carolina all work for an income. Policies that give farmers a chance to protect the environment without hurting their income will always be the favorable option.

One thought on “The Power of Incentives, from France to North Carolina

  1. Hey rpg5121, here is the link to my blog: http://geog030.dutton.psu.edu/2016/02/26/module-5-case-studies-development/

    You make a good connection between the pesticides and wastes to surrounding suburbs. I live in suburbs as well and I think people don’t realize how close we really are to both rural waste such as pesticides. Not to mention industrial waste from the city, or even light and sound pollution! The suburbs are a nice place to live but we are not exempt from some of the damages of different climates.

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