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Abstract
Many watershed organizations have prioritized establishing streamside (riparian) buffers on agricultural land to improve water quality. Using data from a 2000 survey of 500 Maryland landowners, we examine what level of financial incentives they would require to install such buffers for 15 years on a voluntary basis. A random utility model is developed where a landowner is willing to accept the offered contract if he or she receives a higher utility from the incentive payment and buffer installation than from not planting the buffer. Given the development pressure in the Washington D.C./Baltimore corridor, we test whether farmers need more than the agricultural opportunity costs to encumber their land. Higher incentive payments, part-time farming, education, and a Lower Shore location positively influence the respondent=s willingness to install a buffer. Length of the farming horizon, age, and a Southern Maryland location negatively influence the respondent=s willingness.