Optimal Pollution Control in Agricultural Production: Biodegradable vs Plastic Mulches

1. Optimal Pollution Control in Agricultural Production: Biodegradable vs Plastic Mulches ——General Model and Application in  the Plastic Mulches Jingze Jiang1, Tom Marsh1, and Eric Belasco2 1 School of Economic Sciences, Washington State University 2 Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Texas Tech University

2. Outline • Introduction and Motivation • Purpose and Objectives • Model • Simulation (Plastic Mulches ) • Preliminary results • Future work SCRI Group Meeting Presentation

3. Introduction and Motivation--Studying the Widely Used Plastic Mulches SCRI Group Meeting Presentation

4. Purpose and Objectives • 1) By considering the cost of dealing with plastic mulch waste, what is the best choice for growers when choosing between conventional and biodegradable mulches? • 2) What is the best choice among different mulches and waste disposal methods to achieve a social optimum? • 3) Is government regulation necessary? SCRI Group Meeting Presentation

5. Model-Growers’ Choices SCRI Group Meeting Presentation

6. Objective—Maximizing Profit: Model-Setup SCRI Group Meeting Presentation

7. Constraints: Model-Setup Solution: MP: BP: DC: SCRI Group Meeting Presentation

8. Simulation (Plastic Mulches )-Model Adjustment • Plastic Mulches in Real World: • 1. The illegal fine is from 5,000$ to 26,000$; • The highest landfill tipping fee in WA is 0.056$/lb charged by LRI Landfillin 2010; • The recycling fee is around twice higher than land-filling tipping fee.(http://www.ecy.wa.gov); • 2. If the grower does not deal with the used mulches, he would lose at least 2500$/acre, which is 73 times higher than the landfill tipping fee • The grower once choose to use plastic mulches, he should prepare to pay for the disposal fee. SCRI Group Meeting Presentation

9. Simulation (Plastic Mulches )-first question • What is the minimum increased yield caused by using plastic mulches to certify that the grower will use plastic mulches ? (not choosing 1.1) SCRI Group Meeting Presentation

10. Simulation (Plastic Mulches)-Data • We choose one acre of tomatoes field as measure unit. • The tomatoes 1989-2009 seasonal prices($/lb) in west US are collected from USDA website. • The tomatoes 1989-2009 seasonal yield data (lb/acre) in WA are regress onto the US 89-09 yield data from USDA website. • We use 1989-2009 LLDPE film seasonal real price data to measure ($/lb) • Landfill tipping fee Data in WA is collected from Department of Ecology State of Washington and NSWMA’S 2005Tipp Fee Survey • Other data, namely mulches usage (lb/acre), installing and removing mulches labor cost($/acre), are from surveyed farms. SCRI Group Meeting Presentation

11. Preliminary result SCRI Group Meeting Presentation

12. Preliminary results • If the plastic mulches cannot increase the yield by 8.66%, the grower should not choose to use the plastic mulches. SCRI Group Meeting Presentation

13. Future work • Simulate the social cost for using the plastic mulches • Simulate the conditions under which the biodegradable mulches can generate more benefit for growers • Compare the difference of the social cost between using the plastic mulches and biodegradable mulches. • Discuss the necessity of the government intervention balancing the individual interest and social optimum SCRI Group Meeting Presentation