The Association between Land Take by New Development and Land Fertility: Are Environmental Charges Effective?
Abstract
One of the negative effects of sprawl is land take by new development and interconnected decrease of available agricultural land, eventually forest land. An even more serious problem is the loss of precious agricultural land with high level of fertility.
The aim of the paper is to assess, if the charge for the conversion of agricultural land has a statistically observable impact on the decision-making of investors in terms of the location of new development according to its agricultural potential. To test the association between land take by new development and land fertility, multiple linear regression is used.
As results show, we face the loss of agricultural land mainly in districts with relatively higher land fertility. The charge for the conversion of agricultural land seems to have no impact on the decision-making of different stakeholders.