Tradeoffs in Balancing Multiple Objectives of An Integrated Agricultural Economic and Environmental System

In the past, environmental concerns were mostly addressed using piecemeal evaluation that redirected the crop production and management decisions in favor of achieving a single objective (such as soil conservation or a water quality goal) which may worsen the desirable levels of other objectives. Lakshminarayan's research develops and implements a conceptual framework for integrated agricultural economic and environmental modeling using a multicriteria decision-making approach grounded in multiattribute utility and social welfare theory. Developing a theory for the integrated modeling method and a statistically consistent approach to integrate spatial variability is what distinguishes the present work from other studies on economic-environmental modeling. Readers will find this to be an excellent summary of impacts of alternative crop production systems on soil and water quality and crop yields. The monograph includes color maps. $20.00