The Impact of No-Till on Agricultural Land Values in the United States Midwest
AAEA members research featured in AJAE
The Biden administration has supported "climate-smart" agricultural practices that can help resilience to climate change, and at the same time potentially reducing negative environmental outcomes from agriculture. No-till is a soil health practice that is typically considered a "climate-smart" practice since previous agronomic studies have shown that it can reduce soil erosion problems in farmers fields and decrease nutrient runoff going to nearby water bodies. The current administration’s support for these kinds of practices (like through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP)) helps encourage the use of this kind of practice.
In the article “The Impact of No-Till on Agricultural Land Values in the United States Midwest” published in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Le Chen and Roderick Rejesus from North Carolina State University, Serkan Agalasan from Mehmet Akif Ersoy University, and Stephen Hagen and William Salas from ReGrowAg, analyzed the impact of no-till adoption on agricultural land values.
Rejesus says, “Findings from our study show that using no-till has a strong and statistically significant positive impact on agricultural land values. This result suggest that higher no-till adoption rates increases county-level farmland values. For counties in the twelve US states included in the USDA-NASS AgCensus land value dataset, our empirical analysis suggest that a 1% increase in no-till adoption rate leads to an increase of $7.86 per acre in agricultural land value. On the other hand, based on data from the Iowa Farmland Values Survey, our study indicate that a 1% increase in no-till adoption rate increases agricultural land values by $14.75 per acre in Iowa counties. These results strongly imply that the use of no-till soil conservation practice positively contributes to higher agricultural land values through improved soil health.”
If you are interested in setting up an interview, please contact Allison Ware in the AAEA Business Office.
ABOUT AAEA: Established in 1910, the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association (AAEA) is the leading professional association for agricultural and applied economists, with 2,500 members in more than 60 countries. Members of the AAEA work in academic or government institutions as well as in industry and not-for-profit organizations, and engage in a variety of research, teaching, and outreach activities in the areas of agriculture, the environment, food, health, and international development. The AAEA publishes three journals, the Journal of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (an open access journal), the American Journal of Agricultural Economics and Applied Economic Perspectives & Policy, as well as the online magazine Choices and the online open access publication series Applied Economics Teaching Resources. To learn more, visit www.aaea.org.
Contact: Allison Ware
Senior Communications & Membership Manager
(414) 918-3190
Email: aware@aaea.org