Ecological Compensation Standard for Non-point Pollution from Farmland

Non-point source water pollution mainly comes from farmland chemical fertilizers which has become an obstacle of agricultural sustainability and ecological health. As a public policy tool for assessing global ecological crisis and environmental pollution, ecological compensation is important for regional agricultural sustainability. Ecological compensation that farmers receive from governments is based on their reduction of fertilizer application at optimal ecological and economic levels. In this study we estimated the ecological compensation standards for nitrogen non-point pollution in Yixng city with contingent valuation method and cost-benefit method.  Results showed that the range of theoretical values of ecological compensation of nitrogen in Yixing City depended upon its optimal ecological and economic nitrogen application levels. The willingness of farmers to accept the compensation was positively correlated with their farming experience and education. There were about half of farmers willing to accept the compensation. Based on the present study, we found Yixing’s ecological compensation standard for controlling nitrogen non-point pollution was 620.0 yuan/hm² at the current economic development level.