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Evaluating the Efficiency of a Uniform N-Input Tax under Different Policy Scenarios at Different Scales

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Abstract

Nitrate pollution from agriculture is an important environmental externality, caused by the excessive use of fertilizers. The internalization of this problem, via a tax on mineral nitrogen, could lead to a second best solution, reducing nitrate emissions. Several authors suggest that a reduction in agricultural support could produce similar results. In this paper, we examine the effects of different levels of a uniformly implemented nitrogen tax in France under two policy scenarios, corresponding to post Agenda 2000 and 2003 Luxembourg reforms of European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy, in order to reveal the synergies and conflicts between the tax and the policy scenarios in terms of nitrate emissions abatement. The analysis is performed at different geographical scales, from the national to the regional and is based on a bioeconomic approach that involves the coupling of the economic model AROPAj with the crop model STICS. Results show that the efficiency of the N-tax varies according to the geographical scale of the analysis and the type of farming. Furthermore, we prove that a uniform implementation may lead to perverse effects that should always be taken into account when introducing second-best instruments.

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Notes

  1. In this study, the V2 version of the model is used, which concerns the version developed for the GENEDEC program and is associated with FADN data for 2002 and EU-15.

  2. For more information: http://www.marsop.info/marsop3/.

  3. For more information: http://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/data/digital-elevation-model-of-europe.

  4. For more information: http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/.

  5. For more information: http://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/COR0-landcover.

  6. For rain-fed crops, two irrigation options were considered (full irrigation and rain), while for crops with high water requirements only full irrigation was opted. Hence, 60 curves were created for the former and 30 for the latter.

  7. For the rest of the paper, we will use the terms “nitrate emissions” and “nitrogen losses in the form of nitrates”, or simply “NO3–N losses” interchangeably.

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Acknowledgments

This paper is based on research activities funded by the PIREN-Seine, an interdisciplinary research program dedicated to the study of the environment in the Seine river basin in France.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. UMR 210 INRA—AgroParisTech Economie Publique, Centre de recherche de Versailles-Grignon, Avenue Lucien Brétignières, Thiverval-Grignon, 78850, France

    Pierre-Alain Jayet

  2. Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, Agricultural University of Athens, Iera Odos 75, 11855, Athens, Greece

    Athanasios Petsakos

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Correspondence to Athanasios Petsakos.

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Jayet, PA., Petsakos, A. Evaluating the Efficiency of a Uniform N-Input Tax under Different Policy Scenarios at Different Scales. Environ Model Assess 18, 57–72 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10666-012-9331-5

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