Will Business-Led Environmental Initiatives Grow in Agriculture?

This article was stimulated by a 1997 American Agricultural Economics Association annual meeting preconference designed by Batie and Ervin. The authors felt that there was considerable interest and activity in business-led environmental management (also caLLed corporate environmental management)-but most of the interest was found outside of the agricultural sector and the profession. The conference was a means to investigate the extent, motivation, and consequences of business-led poLLution prevention activities. The DuPont and the StahLbush Island Farms examples used in this article were drawn from discussions that took place at the conference and which were published in the proceedings. In the article, the authors draw lessons for agriculture informed by the experiences of nonagricultural businesses. They identify and distiLL from these experiences the major roles for the public sector to enable agricultural business-led initiatives to flourish and to be successful