A newly released study evaluates how Maryland can get the most bang for its buck regarding its riparian buffer incentive programs.
The study, written by Dr. David Newburn, an environmental and resource economist at the University of Maryland (UMD) College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, takes an experimental approach to evaluating methods and potential incentives to increase buffer adoption and enhance their environmental effectiveness.
Riparian buffers are areas adjacent to streams, rivers or wetlands managed with trees, shrubs, or other plants that provide environmental benefits like filtering nutrients before they reach waterways and reducing soil erosion. Riparian buffers on agricultural land are critical to improving Chesapeake Bay's water quality.
Maryland has existing state and federal programs, such as the Conservation Buffer Initiative and Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program, that incentivize landowners who sign up to install buffers. Newburn’s study uses a survey of the owners of farmland throughout Maryland and embedded an experiment to elicit landowners willing to enroll in alternative buffer incentive programs varying in payment amounts and contract length. The study then combines this survey data with modeling to determine the likelihood that farmers will participate and what environmental benefits for water quality and carbon sequestration are achieved under each scenario.
“We hope that this research provides science-based information to policymakers on ways to increase the landowner participation and the effectiveness of achieving environment outcomes in riparian buffer programs,” said Dr. Newburn.
According to the study, landowners strongly preferred upfront payments over annual payments to incentivize buffer installation. They also have a slight preference for shorter contract lengths, but this significantly reduces the program’s environmental benefit and cost-effectiveness. Scenarios offering bonus payments to landowners based on parcel-specific expected environmental benefits proved cost-effective and boasted the highest benefit-cost ratios. Allowing landowners to trade carbon sequestration offsets results in little additional adoption because these carbon market payments are relatively low compared to the large incentives provided under state and federal buffer programs.
However, the study also revealed that almost half of the landowners who responded to its survey elected to refrain from enrolling in any proposed buffer programs (despite the proposed programs in the survey experiment offering payments much higher than what is provided in current incentive programs). The study further identifies the types of landowners who are more or less likely to enroll in a buffer incentive program.
Dr. Newburn was the principal investigator on the study. His co-authors of the study include Dr. Erik Lichtenberg (UMD), Dr. Yougho Kim (Oxford University), Derek Wietelman (UMD), and Dr. Haoluan Wang (University of Miami). This study was funded by the Hughes Center for Agro-Ecology.
Riparian forest buffers have been a centerpiece of Maryland's efforts to restore Chesapeake Bay water quality and provide benefits from water quality to carbon sequestration. Dr. David Newburn of the University of Maryland (UMD) presents research that evaluates the effectiveness of incentives aimed at increasing riparian buffer adoption and the environmental benefits they provide. This research was funded by the UMD Harry R. Hughes Center for Agro-Ecology.