Analyzing the impact of soil contamination on farmland values
Eloi SchreursSebastien LizinSteven Van PasselTheo Thewys
Summer school ‘Choice experiments in agricultural and food economics’ – Leuven (BE) – 3rd July 2013
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Master in economicsPhD in environmental economicsHasselt University
Eloi Schreurs
Summer school Choice experiments - Leuven (BE) – 3rd July 2013
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PhD topic
Environmental pollutionExternal cost
Case studyCampine region
Summer school Choice experiments - Leuven (BE) – 3rd July 2013
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Contamination of farmland
Food safety?Health risks?
Uncertainty?
Soil remediation?Land use restrictions?
“Impact soil pollution on farmland values?”
Problem statement
Summer school Choice experiments - Leuven (BE) – 3rd July 2013
Cd
Zn As
Cu
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Problem statement
Hedonic pricing analysis (HP)
Y: Farmland values X: Soil Cd concentrations
ResultNo effectRobust
Summer school Choice experiments - Leuven (BE) – 3rd July 2013
Y = α + β1x1 + β2x2 + … + ε
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Problem statement
Why?
Stated Preference (DCE) Objective
Circumvent weaknesses HPProvide explanations
Summer school Choice experiments - Leuven (BE) – 3rd July 2013
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Design
Simulate land purchase decision
Select attribute(s) (levels)
Expert knowledge Contact information Co-operation
Complementarity to HP
Summer school Choice experiments - Leuven (BE) – 3rd July 2013
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Design
Attribute levels
Little variabilityExtra consequences limited
Based on HP dataset
Summer school Choice experiments - Leuven (BE) – 3rd July 2013
Attribute Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4Price (€/ha) 15000 25000 35000 45000Lot size (ha) 0,5 1,5 2,5 3,5Soil productivity Low Rather low Rather high HighDriving time to home (min) 5 10 15 20Distance to other farmland (m) 0 750 1500 2250
Land use restrictionsNo restrictions
No arable crops and vegetables due to soil contamination
25% less usage of fertilizers
Permanent pasture
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Design
Experimental designD-efficient design3 options + opt-out2 blocks of 8 choice sets
Choice set
Summer school Choice experiments - Leuven (BE) – 3rd July 2013
Option A Option B Option C Option DLot size 0,5 ha 1,5 ha 2,5 ha Price per ha 25000 €/ha 15000 €/ha 35000 €/ha Productivity Rather high High Rather low I choose nor A,Distance to other farmland 1500 m 750 m 2250 m nor B,Driving time to home 15 min 5 min 20 min nor C
Land use restrictions No restrictions Permanent pasture 25% less usage of fertilizers
Choice O O O O
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Data
Survey In-person interview 26 municipalities Simple random sampling
Data (n = 200)
Summer school Choice experiments - Leuven (BE) – 3rd July 2013
Socio-economic characteristics
SexMale 95,5%
Female 4,5%
Age
<35 6,5%
35-44 18%
45-54 58%
55-64 14%
>65 3,5%
Farm-level characteristics
ProfessionalFull time 98%
Part time 2%
Farming type
Specialist milk 56,5%
Mixed farm 20,5%
Specialist pig 10%
Other specialist 13%
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Coefficient Std. Error
Price -0.071** 0.029
Lot size 0.118*** 0.027
Low productivity -0.533*** 0.075
Rather low productivity -0.484*** 0.083
Rather high productivity -0.073 0.084
Distance to other farmland -7.640E-05** 3.440E-05
Driving time to home -0.011** 0.005
Soil contamination -0.328*** 0.087
Fertilizing restriction -0.550*** 0.104
Permanent pasture -0.371*** 0.099
ASC -1.333*** 0.197
N 6400
Pseudo R² 0.050
Results
Multinomial logit model
Summer school Choice experiments - Leuven (BE) – 3rd July 2013
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Coefficient Std. Error
Price -0.071** 0.029
Lot size 0.118*** 0.027
Low productivity -0.533*** 0.075
Rather low productivity -0.484*** 0.083
Rather high productivity -0.073 0.084
Distance to other farmland -7.640E-05** 3.440E-05
Driving time to home -0.011** 0.005
Soil contamination -0.328*** 0.087
Fertilizing restriction -0.550*** 0.104
Permanent pasture -0.371*** 0.099
ASC -1.333*** 0.197
N 6400
Pseudo R² 0.050
Results
Other results
Summer school Choice experiments - Leuven (BE) – 3rd July 2013
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Results
Willingness to pay
Overestimation?
Summer school Choice experiments - Leuven (BE) – 3rd July 2013
Attribute WTP (€/ha)
Lot size (ha) 16,619.72
Low productivity -75,070.42
Rather low productivity -68,169.01
Rather high productivity -10,281.69
Distance to other farmland (min) -10,760.56
Driving time to home (1000m) -1549.30
Soil contamination -46,197.18
Fertilizing restriction -77,464.79
Permanent pasture -52,253.52
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Results
Heterogeneity
Summer school Choice experiments - Leuven (BE) – 3rd July 2013
Coefficient Std. ErrorPrice -0.242** 0.102Lot size 0.166*** 0.031Low productivity -0.538*** 0.075Rather low productivity -0.492*** 0.083Rather high productivity -0.083 0.084Distance to other farmland -8.550E-05** 4.350E-05Driving time to home -0.011** 0.005Soil contamination -0.555*** 0.136Fertilizing restriction -0.801*** 0.151Permanent pasture -0.367*** 0.099ASC4 -1.388*** 0.200Interaction effects Price - price estimation 7.040E-06** 3.050E-06Price - risk takers -0.095** 0.048Lot size - food producers -0.137* 0.079Lot size – pig and poultry farms -0.221*** 0.072Distance to other farmland – food producers -2.520E-04*** 9.780E-05Distance to other farmland – expansive farms 1.755E-04** 8.230E-05Soil contamination - specialist dairy farms 0.376*** 0.144Fertilizing restriction - agricultural education 0.410** 0.166N 6400 Pseudo R² 0.067
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Conclusion
Soil contamination =important in farmer’s land perception
Confirm explanations Lack of awareness Lack of compliance Specialist dairy farmers
Other possibilities Non-farmers in HP Farmland scarcity
Summer school Choice experiments - Leuven (BE) – 3rd July 2013
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Conclusion
Farmer’s preferencesProductivityLot sizeLand use restrictions
Further researchExternal validityValuation purposes?Private good – nonmarket/public good
Summer school Choice experiments - Leuven (BE) – 3rd July 2013