Using cost-benefit analysis to understand adoption of winter cover cropping in California's specialty crop systems

Journal of Environmental Management
Alyssa J DeVincentisDaniele Zaccaria

Abstract

Winter cover crops could contribute to more sustainable agricultural production and increase resiliency to climate change; however, their adoption remains low in California. This paper seeks to understand barriers to winter cover crop adoption by monetizing their long-term economic and agronomic impacts on farm profitability in two of California's specialty crop systems: processing tomatoes and almonds. Our modeling effort provides a present, discounted valuation of the long-term use of winter cover crops through a cost-benefit analysis. A net present value model estimates the cumulative economic value of this practice. We then explore how the long-term trade-offs associated with winter cover crops can affect an operation's profits under a spectrum of hypothetical changes in California's agricultural landscape. Our analysis sheds light on the barriers to adoption by reporting benefit-cost ratios that indicate profitability across several scenarios; however, benefits and costs accrue differently over time and with long planning horizons. At the same time, a small portion of gained benefits are external to the grower. Findings from this study reveal that winter cover crops in California can be profitable in the long-term, but the...Continue Reading

References

Oct 27, 2005·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·William A Jury, Henry Vaux
Oct 20, 2018·Science·C Kremen, A M Merenlender

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