Government agencies in urbanizing areas are increasingly utilizing purchase and transfer of development rights programs to preserve farmland and protect local farm economies.This article tests the effect of development restrictions imposed by permanent easement sales on farmland sales prices, using Maryland data. We correct for selectivity bias due to the voluntary nature of these programs in e...

The environmental impacts of land use vary regionally. Differences in geomorphology, climate, landscape structure, and biotope inventories are regarded as the main causes of this variation. We present a methodological approach for identifying regional responses in land use type to large-scale changes and the implications for the provision of habitat for farmland birds. The methodological innova...

Heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) were analyzed in 34 surface soil samples collected from farmland and 7 soil or dust samples collected from the workshops in South China, where e-waste was dismantled using primitive techniques. The results show that Cd, Cu and Hg were the most abundant metals, in particular...

The global demand for agricultural products is surging due to population growth, more meat-based diets, and the increasing role of bioenergy. Three strategies can increase agricultural production: (1) expanding agriculture into natural ecosystems; (2) intensifying existing farmland; or (3) recultivating abandoned farmland. Because agricultural expansion entails substantial environmental trade-o...

Abstract The European Turtle Dove (turtle dove) is globally threatened after undergoing a sustained and generalised decline across its breeding range, with habitat loss suggested as the main driver. Here, we reviewed scientific literature on associations in relation to distribution, numbers, nesting substrates, food foraging habitats, identify optimal management measures. Large-scale distributi...

The temporal-spatial interaction of land cover and non-point source (NPS) nutrient pollution were analyzed with the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to simulate the temporal-spatial features of NPS nutrient loading in the upper stream of the Yellow River catchment. The corresponding land cover data variance was expressed by the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) that was calcula...

Empirical studies on farmland rental rates have predominantly concentrated on modelling conditional means using spatial autoregressive models, where a linear functional form between the response and the covariates is usually assumed. However, if it is in fact non-linear, misspecifying the functional form can adversely affect inference. While mean regression models only allow limited insights in...

www.ruaf.org Maricopa County in Arizona, which includes the city of Phoenix and the surrounding suburban areas, is currently the fourth most populous county in the country and among the fastest growing(1). Rapid urbanisation has put a great deal of pressure on agriculture, which has historically been very important in the county. According to the 2007 agricultural census, total farmland decline...