Estimating the regional economic impacts of retiring agricultural land: methodology and an application in California

摘要

Land retirement is one option that can be used to address water shortages in agricultural areas. The regional economic impacts of land retirement should be considered when evaluating these proposals. This paper presents a methodology for estimating these impacts, including guidelines that should be considered during such an evaluation. A case study of an application in California indicates that the overall regional economic impacts of land retirement in agricultural areas will probably be negative, but the associated mitigating activities greatly reduce the magnitude of these impacts.