Darrell J. Bosch, Zena L. Cook and Keith O. Fuglie (1995), ‘Voluntary versus Mandatory Agricultural Policies to Protect Water Quality: Adoption of Nitrogen Testing in Nebraska’, Review of Agricultural Economics, 17, pp. 13-24.

The amount of agricultural pollution depends in

part on agricultural practices or technologies that

farmers employ. In the United States, policies for

changing farmers' practices related to soil conservation and water quality protection have usually relied on voluntary adoption of new

practices. Policy tools to promote voluntary

adoption include extension education, technical assistance, and cost sharing. In recent years, both state and federal water quality projects have been initiated targeting these different approaches to

different areas. Increasingly, however, regulation

is being used by the Federal Government and by

states to mandate the adoption of practices by

farmers (United States Environmental Protection

Agency 1993; Ribaudo and Woo). To date, little

research has been undertaken on the relative

effectiveness o f regulatory and incentive

approaches. While the immediate goal of

adoption may be more easily achieved by

regulation, that regulation will not necessarily

lead to the proper or desired use of the practice.