Rachna Tewari, Jeff Johnson, Darren Hudson, Chenggang Wang, Dennis Patterson

Show more
Department of Agriculture, Geosciences, and Natural Resources, The University of Tennessee at Martin, Martin, USA.
Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, USA.
Department of Political Science, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, USA.
Show less

Abstract: The Texas High Plains faces projections of increasing temperature and declining precipitation in the future on account of its semi-arid climate. This research evaluated the impact of climatic variability on agricultural land prices under different land uses in the Texas High Plains, employing the Ricardian approach of land climate pricing over a study period of 1991-2011. The results indicate that climatic variability had a greater impact on irrigated land prices as compared to dryland and ranchland. This study could be instrumental in predictive market analyses of rural land values in semi-arid economies which are vulnerable to future climate change.

Keywords: Climatic Variability; Dryland; Irrigated Land; Land Prices; Ranchland; Texas High Plains

Cite this paper: R. Tewari, J. Johnson, D. Hudson, C. Wang and D. Patterson, "Does Climatic Variability Influence Agricultural Land Prices under Differing Uses? The Texas High Plains Case," Natural Resources, Vol. 4 No. 8, 2013, pp. 506-513. doi: 10.4236/nr.2013.48062.

References

[1]   Texas A & M Institute of Renewable Natural Resources, “Texas Land Trends,” 2012.
http://texaslandtrends.org/Briefings/Landuse.aspx.

[2]   IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), “Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report”, 2007.
http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/syr/en/spms3.html

[3]   Real Estate Center at Texas A & M University, “Texas Rural Value Trends,” 2012.
http://recenter.tamu.edu/data/rland/trends/ASFMRA_2011.pdf.

[4]   R. Mendelsohn, W. D. Nordhaus and D. Shaw, “The Impact of Global Warming on Agriculture: A Ricardian Analysis,” American Economic Review, Vol. 84, No. 4, 1994, pp.753-771.

[5]   J. Currie, “The Economic Theory of Agricultural Land Tenure,” Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1981.

[6]   A. Amiraslany, “The Impact of Climate Change on Canadian Agriculture: A Ricardian Approach,” Unpublished Thesis, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, 2010.
http://library2.usask.ca/theses/available/etd-05252010-102012/

[7]   R. Mendelsohn and W. D. Nordhaus, “The Impact of Global Warming on Agriculture: A Ricardian Analysis: Reply,” American Economic Review, Vol. 89, No. 4, 1999, pp. 1049-1052.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/aer.89.4.1049

[8]   J. Quiggin and J. K. Horowitz, “The Impact of Global Warming on Agriculture: A Ricardian Analysis: Comment,” American Economic Review, Vol. 89, No. 4, 1999, pp. 1044-1045. http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/aer.89.4.1044

[9]   R. Mendelsohn, W. D. Nordhaus and D. Shaw, “Climate Impacts on Aggregate Farm Value: Accounting for Adaptation,” Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, Vol. 80, 1996. pp. 55-66.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0168-1923(95)02316-X

[10]   Mendelsohn, R. and A. Dinar, “Climate, water, and agriculture,” Land Economics, Vol. 79, No. 3, 2003, pp. 328341. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3147020

[11]   W. Schlenker, W. Hanemann and A. Fisher, “Will U.S. Agriculture Really Benefit from Global Warming? Accounting for Irrigation in the Hedonic Approach,” The American Economic Review, Vol. 95, No. 1, 2005, pp. 395-406. http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/0002828053828455

[12]   W. Schlenker, W. Hanemann and A. Fisher, “Water Availability, Degree Days, and the Potential Impact of Climate Change on Irrigated Agriculture in California,” Climatic Change, Vol. 81, No. 1, 2007, pp. 19-38.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10584-005-9008-z

[13]   O. Deschens and M. Greenstone, “The Economic Impacts of Climate Change: Evidence from Agricultural Profits and Random Fluctuations in Weather,” American Economic Review, Vol. 97, No.1, 2007, pp. 354-385.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/aer.97.1.354

[14]   D. Maddison, “A Hedonic Analysis of Agricultural Land Prices in England and Wales,” European Review of Agricultural Economics, Vol. 27, No. 4, 2000, pp. 519-532.

[15]   S. N. Seo and R. Mendelsohn, “An Analysis of Crop Choice: Adapting to Climate Change in South American Farms,” Ecological Economics, Vol. 67, No. 1, 2008, pp. 109-116.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2007.12.007

[16]   U. Hanif, S. H. Syed, R. Ahmad and K. M. Malik, “Economic Impact of Climate Change on the Agricultural Sector of Punjab,” The Pakistan Development Review, Vol. 49. No. 4, 2010, pp. 771-798.

[17]   National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, “National Climatic Data Center,” 2012.

[18]   U.S. Census Bureau, 2012. http://www.census.gov/.

[19]   Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, “Agricultural Survey,” 2012. http://www.dallasfed.org/research/agsurvey/index.cfm.

[20]   Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University, 2005.
http://recenter.tamu.edu/data/rland/trends/ASFMRA05.pdf