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Abstract

This report describes an integrated agro-ecological modeling system that was developed to assess the potential economic and soil erosion impacts of different agricultural policies for the Canadian prairie provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. The system was constructed by linking erosion metamodels (response functions), based on multiple simulations of the USDA Erosion Productivity Impact Calculator (EPIIC), with a modified version of Agriculture Canada's Canadian Regional Agriculture Model (CRAM) denoted as RS-CRAM (resource sensitive CRAM). A summary of both the environmental and agricultural decision (RS-CRAM) components are presented, including a description of the modifications and enhancements that were made to CRAM. Results of policy analyses are discussed for the following scenarios: (1) Gross Revenue Insurance Program (GRIIP), (2) sensitivity of GRIP results to different risk levels, (3) tillage practice sensitivity, and (4) industrial crops sensitivity. Future recommendations are also presented, emphasizing how the current system can be improved and the potential to include additional regions, environmental indicators, and other environmental models within the system.

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