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Lost ground, lost value: Investigating the relationship between soil erosion and agricultural land value

Le Chen et al.

American Journal of Agricultural Economics2026https://doi.org/10.1002/ajae.70057article
AJG 3ABDC A*
Weight
0.50

Abstract

This study examines the impact of soil erosion on agricultural land values in the United States (US) Midwest. Based on a novel county‐level panel data set with information on soil erosion levels and agricultural land values covering five census years (1997, 2002, 2007, 2012, and 2017), we separately investigate the direct effect of two types of soil erosion—water and wind erosion—on county‐level average agricultural land values. Linear panel fixed effects econometric models and a number of robustness checks are used to achieve the study objective. We find that increasing soil erosion levels have a statistically significant negative impact on agricultural land values at the county level. Our findings confirm that damages to the soil from water or wind erosion are capitalized into lower farmland values. The study provides new insights in terms of further understanding the economic damages due to soil erosion and the likely benefits from soil erosion control.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1002/ajae.70057

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@article{le2026,
  title        = {{Lost ground, lost value: Investigating the relationship between soil erosion and agricultural land value}},
  author       = {Le Chen et al.},
  journal      = {American Journal of Agricultural Economics},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1002/ajae.70057},
}

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Lost ground, lost value: Investigating the relationship between soil erosion and agricultural land value

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Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

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