Agriculture and the environment: an economic perspective with implicationsfor nutrition

Agricultural production has harmed environmental quality primarily because of inadequately designed policies and natural resource projects. Hence, mos t of the harmful side effects of agriculture can be reduced or eliminated b y replacing these 'bad' institutions with policies and projects that create financial (dis)incentives for (un)desirable behavior. Provided appropriate policies are followed, environmental constraints should not keep people fr om meeting nutritional standards that emphasize more fruits, vegetables, an d fish. Nutritional well-being can be achieved with policies and projects t hat give people sufficient access to food that has been produced with metho ds that minimize adverse impacts on the environment. (C) 1999 Elsevier Scie nce Ltd. All rights reserved.