Agri-environmental contracting of Dutch dairy farms: the role of manure policies and the occurrence of lock-in
使用数学规划模型研究荷兰奶牛场在农业环境合同中的锁定现象，发现更严格的粪肥政策提高合同参与率，但合同付款减半时95%的农场因草地更新成本而无法调整决策，陷入锁定。
The paper examines the possibility of lock-in on the area contracted under an agri-environmental contract in Dutch dairy farming, using a mathematical programming model, and the interaction of these contracts with Dutch national manure policy. Stricter manure policies increase contract participation, since more restrictive N application standards lower the opportunity cost of contracting. If contract payments are halved in a later period, 95 per cent of the contracting farms in the model would like to alter their contracting decision but they do not because of the cost of grassland renewal (switching cost). These farms are locked-in. The model incorporates time, transaction cost and technical and institutional constraints.