Impacts of terrain attributes on economics and the environment: costs of reducing potential nitrogen pollution in wheat production
研究了地形属性如何影响氮肥施用的经济成本和环境效果，发现统一施肥在经济上优于变量施肥，但变量施肥能减少残留氮、带来环境效益。
Abstract The economic cost of achieving desired environmental outcomes from uniform and variable rate fertilizer application technologies depends both on market forces and agronomic properties. Using spatial econometric methods, we analyze the impact of nitrogen fertilizer supply by terrain attribute on the yield and protein content of hard red spring wheat grown in Eastern Washington as well as the impact on residual nitrogen. We find significant association with all three. The economic impact of nitrogen restrictions depends critically on both prices and level of the restriction. Uniform application of nitrogen was found to economically outperform variable rate application, but variable rate application provided positive environmental benefits due to less residual nitrogen.