Brady, Mark
- Department of Economics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Abstract
Soil natural capital through its delivery of ecosystem services is pivotal for agricultural production. We develop a production-function approach and use data from long-term agricultural field experiments in Europe and the US to show that changes in soil organic carbon (SOC)-through its relation to ecosystem services-can be used to value changes in soil natural capital. Generally, declining SOC reduces both maximum yield and fertilizer use efficiency in the future, thereby depreciating soil natural capital. The depreciation cost will depend on the current state of SOC and the choice of discount rate. Valuing SOC as natural capital makes way for optimising soil ecosystem services in agricultural production.
SLU Authors
UKÄ Subject classification
Economics
Permanent link to this page (URI)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/60389