The economic sustainability of agri-environmental policies: the application of Reg. (EC) n. 1095/2007 in the rice sector

Positive Mathematical Programming represents a useful tool for agri-environmental policy planning. This paper estimates the consequences of the application of the Reg. (EC) 1095/2007, relating to the ban on the use of the active agent Tricyclazole, which is normally employed to combat rice blast. The main objective is to quantify the variation in farmers’ revenues and the change in use of the land, in response to the variations in the yield of rice produced and its production costs. The research has been focused on the rice-farming sector in the Parco Agricolo Sud Milano (PASM) The study present the results of simulations of ten different scenarios with a view to evaluating the whole sustainability of the cautionary measures introduced.