Race to the Bottom (of the Well)
Groundwater in an Agricultural Production Treadmill
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2245222 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Matthew R Sanderson (0000-0002-5946-6556, Kansas State University, corresponding author), Vivian Hughes (0009-0000-5913-9304, Florida State University) |
| Year | 2019 |
| Volume | 66 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 392-410 |
| Publication date | 2019-08-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Social Problems (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0037-7791 • E-ISSN: 1533-8533 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/socpro/spy011 |
| OpenAlex | W2805708255 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 15 |
| References cited | 52 |
Groundwater from the Ogallala-High Plains Aquifer supports one of the most productive agriculture regions in the world. Yet, despite nearly 40 years of policies designed to conserve and sustain this vital resource, the Aquifer continues to be depleted at an unsustainable rate. We integrate propositions from treadmill of production theory and ecological modernization theory to develop a structural model, focusing especially on the role of technological modernization as a key mechanism motivating depletion. A time-sequenced path analysis of all counties in the Ogallala Aquifer region reveals that groundwater depletion has a strong internal momentum characteristic of an agricultural production treadmill. Technological modernization promotes depletion through Jevon's Paradox. Increases in water efficiency-more crop per drop-are associated with less groundwater consumption, but more extensive deployments of irrigation infrastructures overwhelm the beneficial effects of increased water efficiency. An income-subsidy mechanism supports the treadmill dynamic. Agricultural production and increased water efficiency do not influence incomes. Instead, incomes are influenced mainly by expansions of irrigation technologies, which generates subsidies, and this dynamic puts further 'spin' on the treadmill. The implications of the findings for theory and policy are discussed
Agricultural economics · Agriculture · Archaeology · Economics · Geography · Geotechnical engineering · Groundwater · Hydrology (agriculture) · Physical therapy · Production (economics) · Race (biology) · Sociology · Treadmill · Water resource management · American Environmental and Regional History · Economic, financial, and policy analysis · Environmental Science · Gender Studies · Geology · Medicine · Water resources management and optimization
Navigating Waters
Does international trade drive CO2 emissions at the U.S. state-level
Reducing unintended consequences of subsidies in (irrigated and rainfed) agriculture
Relationships of regeneration in Great Plains commodity agriculture
Does adopting a nitrogen best management practice reduce nitrogen fertilizer rates
Water, culture, and adaptation in the High Plains-Ogallala Aquifer region
Good for the soil, but good for the farmer? Addiction and recovery in transitions to regenerative agriculture
Silent Spring at 60
Unlocking aquifer sustainability through irrigator-driven groundwater conservation
How Row-Crop Farmers Adapted Nitrogen Management in Response to Market Volatility
Irrigated agriculture and human development
Does stringent climate policy decouple economic growth from greenhouse gas emissions
Guns versus Climate
The Cropland Expansionary Dynamics of Agricultural Production in Latin America
Ad Astra per aquam (to the stars, through water)
Water balance of global aquifers revealed by groundwater footprint
Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis
Structural Equations with Latent Variables
Governing Environmental Flows
The Metabolic Rifts of Livestock Agribusiness
Interrogating the Treadmill of Production
How Ecologically Uneven Developments Put the Spin on the Treadmill of Production
Up in Smoke
The Effects of Affluence, Economic Development, and Environmental Degradation on Environmental Concern
The Treadmill of Production
Treadmills of Production and Destruction
World System, Anthropogenic, and Ecological Threats to Bird and Mammal Species
Key Challenges to Ecological Modernization Theory
Environmental Threats and Political Opportunities
Intensive Hog Farming in Manitoba
The Treadmill of Destruction and the Environmental Impacts of Militaries 1
Towards the real green revolution? Exploring the conceptual dimensions of a new ecological modernisation of agriculture that could ‘feed the world’
Towards an ecological theory of unequal exchange
Ecological Modernization and Its Critics
The Temporal (In)Stability of the Carbon Dioxide Emissions/Economic Development Relationship in Central and Eastern European Nations
Nongovernmental Organizations, Democracy, and Deforestation
Sociology, environment, and modernity
Theoretical Interpretations of the Growth in Organic Agriculture
Ecological Modernization and Its Critics
Agricultural transitions in the context of growing environmental pressure over water
The Sociology of Unequal Exchange in Ecological Context
The refinement of production
Locality and Inequality
Modifying Argentina
The Coal‐Corn Divide
Footprints on the Earth
The Agricultural Treadmill and the Rural Environment in the Post-productivist Era
Twenty Lessons in Environmental Sociology
Globalization, Foreign Investment Dependence and Agriculture Production
Agricultural Subsidies and Farm Consolidation
Unequal Ecological Exchange and Environmental Degradation
Consumption and Environmental Degradation
Ecological Unequal Exchange
Are the Economy and the Environment Decoupling? A Comparative International Study, 1960-2005
Modes of Extraction, Unequal Exchange, and the Progressive Underdevelopment of an Extreme Periphery
Societies consuming nature
| Unique citing works | 15 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2,5 |
| Citation span | 2020 - 2026 (7) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 15 |