ABSTRACT
In this chapter we deal with the problem of appropriate objectives and modeling procedures in bio-economic modeling to identify the behavior of farmers1
with respect to the environment. The choice of objectives is crucial for the identification of behavior. In the agricultural economics literature there is a tendency to classify farmers in two groups, i.e. as traditional and commercial farmers, who show different behavior and are modeled applying different objectives. Modelers generally consider traditional farmers as being focused on food security and on sustaining their environment, whereas commercial farmers are expected to maximize their income, which means that they have a tendency to exploit resources. Yet farming is a process and we suggest here that, to a certain extent, commercial farmers also pay attention to the qualitative aspects of their range. As reported in this chapter, which reflects recent work done in Southern Namibia, we find some clues that processes of natural resource degradation, which means in our case the degradation of rangeland quality, might be important to farmers. Commercial farmers in Namibia serve as an example to find empirical evidence about our hypothesis according to which farmers have several objectives, caring for nature being one of them. Our clues suggest that farmers, even commercial farmers, farm owners or managers, are not pure income-maximizing entities. Rather, they seek to conserve their natural resources, their environment and the nature surrounding them, and thus they adapt their management objectives to the degradation threats. It is the aim of this schapter to make a contribution at the methodological level, concerning the modeling of private farmers’ strategies when in the presence of degradation processes. We especially want to shed light on theoretical and empirical aspects of the debate around the definition of appropriate objective functions and the conjectural modeling of maximizing behaviors. In order to do so we develop a bio-economic modeling approach to find strategies and corresponding objectives for practical farm management which take into account ecological objectives. We consider this process to be a step towards the understanding of sustainable management.
