Precision agriculture and agro-environmental policy

A whole-farm model was used to investigate the effects of precision agriculture adoption on production choices under various agro-environmental policy frameworks. Simulation of a typical grain farm in western Kentucky, USA indicated that adoption of precision agriculture does alter responsiveness to policies based on financial incentives for pollution abatement (e.g. emission taxes). Specifically, those farms were less responsive to financial incentives (i.e. abated less pollution), due to higher marginal abatement costs in the form of forgone profits. Policy-makers targeting pollution reductions from agriculture should take into account the increasing use of precision agriculture techniques and their effects on agro-environmental policy.