Farmland Conversion
The Spatial Dimension of Agricultural and Land Use Policies
Land is a key input into agricultural production and the agricultural sector remains the main user of rural land in most OECD countries. How land is managed in agriculture, and the conversion of farmland to non-agricultural uses, are likely to have implications not only for the provision of food, but also for the supply of public goods such as rural amenities, as well as for the quantity and quality of water. Changes in agricultural, agri-environmental, land-use, and regional policies – together with factors such as climate and demographic changes – increasingly affect land use and management choices. This report examines the impact of several policies on farmland conversion using a combination of economic analysis and empirical case studies.
The effects of land-use policies on agricultural land use
The term “land-use policy” refers to the set of rules and regulations that directly influence the use of farmland, whether they are implemented by national or sub-national governments. Land-use policy provides an alternative mechanism for influencing agricultural land use. Typically, land-use policy has not been seen as a key factor in agriculture. This, in part, reflects the prevailing assumption that the stock of farmland is largely fixed and that, while land use policy might have some impact on the stock of farmland at the local or regional level, it has limited influence on the agricultural sector taken as a whole. By its nature, land-use policy is explicitly spatial in nature. While policies may be designed to deal with broad land-use issues, they have their impact on particular parcels of land.
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