This book discusses the important issue of the socioeconomic and environmental impacts of agricultural residue burning, common in agricultural practices in many parts of the world. In particular, it focuses on the pollution caused by rice residue burning using primary survey data from Punjab, India. It discusses emerging solutions to agricultural waste burning that are cost-effective in terms of both money and time. The burning of agricultural residue causes severe pollution in land, water and air and contributes to increased ozone levels and climate change in the long term. However, appropriate assessments have not been undertaken so far to demonstrate the relevant impact of agriculture-based pollution, especially residue burning. This book addresses this gap in the literature. Punjab has been used as a case study as it is the chief granary of India, contributing to 27.2 percent of the Indian national produce of rice and 43.8 percent of wheat. It is presumed that the findings from this state will be useful not only for other agricultural areas in India, but across the world. This book, therefore, sensitizes policy makers, researchers and students about the impacts of air pollution caused by agricultural residue burning---a subject not much dealt in the literature---and provides a way forward.

Open field burning is the lowest-cost method of harvest residue disposal used extensively by grass seed producers in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. The beneficial effects of open field burning include effective disease control and increased seed yields. However, smoke produced by open burning in the late summer pollutes valley air, reduces visibility, and possibly poses traffic and health hazards. The growing concern among Oregon citizenry coupled with increased national interest in environmental quality has led Oregon authorities to legislate controls on open field burning. However, such controls by changing resource allocation in Oregon's seed industry would impose costs upon society. The major objective of this study was to estimate costs of three alternative field burning control policies in terms of the changes in consumers' surplus and producers' rents associated with each policy. To accomplish this objective an econometric model of demand and supply relationships for the six grass seeds raised in the Willamette Valley was developed. To establish a reasonable range for policy-induced changes in consumers' surplus and producers' rents, three alternative supply situations were postulated, and costs of grass seed production under each policy were assumed to increase by $5.00, $9.00, and $13.00 per acre, respectively. Supply situation I assumed positively-sloped Oregon and non-Oregon supply curves whereas situation II assumed a perfectly inelastic Oregon supply curve and a positively-sloped non-Oregon supply curve. Supply situation III postulated a perfectly elastic non-Oregon and a positively-sloped Oregon supply curve. In supply situation I, depending upon policy and assumed increase in costs of seed production, the relative decrease in consumers' surplus varied from 3 to 15 percent at national level when aggregated over all six grass seeds. Oregon producers' rents were predicted to decline by 4 to 20 percent. The increases in non-Oregon rents under each policy and assumed cost increase were only about 20 percent of the losses in Oregon rents. Consequently, the relative decreases in the sum of consumers' surplus and producers' rents (Oregon and non-Oregon) were approximately equal to the decreases in consumers' surplus. Since under supply situation II and III seed prices remained unchanged, only changes in Oregon producers' rents needed estimation. Decreases in Oregon rents in situation II were 6 to 12 percent smaller than in situation I. In contrast, the results for supply situation III suggested that, other things equal, the greater the responsiveness of non-Oregon supplies to price, the greater the losses in Oregon producers' rents. To provide additional perspective on the possible economic impacts of regulating open field burning, changes in earnings in grass seed production were translated into changes in the value of agricultural land now in seed production in the Willamette Valley. To accomplish this objective, the relative decreases in seed production earnings were estimated for supply situations I and II, and a model of the determinants of Willamette Valley grass seed land values was developed. The model predicted that land values in the Willamette Valley would typically decline by approximately two to nine percent depending upon the type of controls imposed on open field burning and the associated cost increase. Although the methodological approach followed in this study is traditional, new measurement techniques are employed to estimate changes in the economic well-being of grass seed producers in Oregon. Furthermore, the extension of partial welfare analysis to predict the effects of Oregon's regulatory policies on the well-being of non-Oregon producers also distinguishes the findings of this study from those of other studies with similar methodological approaches.

This open access book on straw management aims to provide a wide array of options for rice straw management that are potentially more sustainable, environmental, and profitable compared to current practice. The book is authored by expert researchers, engineers and innovators working on a range of straw management options with case studies from Vietnam, the Philippines and Cambodia. The book is written for engineers and researchers in order to provide them information on current good practice and the gaps and constraints that require further research and innovation. The book is also aimed at extension workers and farmers to help them decide on the best alternative straw management options in their area by presenting both the technological options as well as the value chains and business models required to make them work. The book will also be useful for policy makers, required by public opinion to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, looking for research-based evidence to guide the policies they develop and implement.