Oj. Kuik et al., The economic benefits to agriculture of a reduction of low-level ozone pollution in The Netherlands, EUR R AGR E, 27(1), 2000, pp. 75-90
Low-level ozone pollution affects crop yields adversely. Reduction of ozone
pollution would therefore increase crop yields and provide economic benefi
ts to producers and consumers of farm products. This paper assesses the pot
ential magnitude of these benefits for the Netherlands. Exposure-response f
unctions were used to estimate initial yield responses when ozone pollution
is reduced to natural background levels. These yield responses were fed in
to a spatial economic model of the Dutch farm sector, thereby allowing for
demand and supply adjustments in all interrelated markets. A novelty in thi
s analysis is the explicit attention to crop-livestock interactions. The an
nual economic benefits of ozone reduction for producers and consumers of fa
rm products are estimated to be 310 million Euro, of which 91 million Euro
goes to producers and 219 million Euro to consumers.