Economics of new technologies for sustainable agriculture

Sustainable agriculture is prescribed as a policy approach that maximizes economic benefits while maintaining environmental quality. It is argued that this approach is human capital-intensive and encourages new scientific developments. To attain sustainability, economic incentives for the development and adoption of precision technologies (with minimal residues that cause environmental damage) have to be developed. Taxation and tradeable permits are desirable policies to attain first-best solutions; however, when heterogeneity and lack-of-information problems are significant, alternative institutions have to be developed. The paper presents and discusses such institutions.