PhD thesis

PhD thesis

Title: Integrated modelization of land use in France: from the crop choice to the choice of economic sector

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Abstract:

The research work presented in this doctoral thesis is devoted to the study of land use. The question is examined from two angles: i) land use within the farm (the choice of crops, pastures), and ii) land use between economic sectors (forests, urban, agriculture, etc.). Two methods were employed: mathematical programming models for the agriculture and forestry sectors and econometric methods. The supply-side agricultural model, AROPAj, allows us to model farmers’ decision in terms of crops and nitrogen input quantities. Since its economic agents are profit maximizers, the results from the model are directly forwarded to an econometric land use model integrating the returns for the other land demanding sectors. Three case studies are proposed. In the first one, we prove that the choice of crops should be taken into account when evaluating the economic and environmental impacts of an input tax on fertilizers. The second case study is focused on agricultural land prices as the result from the competition among the different land uses, namely field farming and pastures, viticulture, urban and tourism. As land prices and agricultural revenues are often used as proxies for the agricultural rent in the econometric land use models, in the third case study we compare the results of econometric models when these values and the estimates from the agricultural model are employed as explanatory variables. The combined use of these two modeling methods can be valuable for the study of the climate induced land use change. Furthermore, the agricultural model allows us to simulate multiple public policy scenarios.