WATERSHED-LEVEL POLICIES TO IMPLEMENT BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES UNDER ENVIRONMENTAL RISK

To meet environmental target, policies that coordinate nonpoint pollution control efforts within a watershed may result in higher total profits than policies that do not. That is, the greatest profits and most runoff reduction would be achieved with optimal combinations of BMPs. However, the uncertainty weather condition could pose some challenge in achieving environmental target. In this study, we use a bioeconomic model, Agricultural Policy Envi-ronment Extender (APEX) to simulate the environmental impacts of alternative cropping sys-tems. Under safety-first constraints, the levels of environmental runoff and optimal net returns of alternative cropping practices are estimated, using GAMS.