Rain follows the forest: Land use policy, climate change, and adaptation

80 Pages Posted: 27 Jan 2023 Last revised: 13 Jan 2024

See all articles by Florian Grosset-Touba

Florian Grosset-Touba

CREST-ENSAE

Anna Papp

Columbia University

Charles Taylor

Harvard University - Harvard Kennedy School (HKS)

Date Written: August 09, 2024

Abstract

Human actions can alter the regional climate, particularly via land use. We analyze the Great Plains Shelterbelt, a large-scale forestation program in the 1930s across the US Midwest. This program led to a decades-long increase in precipitation and decrease in temperature. Changes extended to downwind unforested areas up to 200km away---enabling us to study climate adaptation and its economic consequences. Where growing conditions improved, farmers expanded corn acreage, switched to more water-intensive production, and experienced less crop failure. In a period of intense farm consolidation and mechanization, this led to the survival of more small farms and a reduction in the use of farm machines. This paper highlights the endogeneity of climate to land use change, and the potential for tree planting to regionally mitigate climate change impacts with lasting consequences for agricultural development.

Keywords: Climate Change, Forests, Adaptation, Land Use, Economic History

JEL Classification: Q1, Q5, N5, 013

Suggested Citation

Grosset-Touba, Florian and Papp, Anna and Taylor, Charles, Rain follows the forest: Land use policy, climate change, and adaptation (August 09, 2024). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4333147 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4333147

Florian Grosset-Touba (Contact Author)

CREST-ENSAE

5 avenue le Chatelier
Palaiseau, NY 91120
France

Anna Papp

Columbia University ( email )

3022 Broadway
New York, NY 10027
United States

Charles Taylor

Harvard University - Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) ( email )

79 John F. Kennedy Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

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