Johannes Schuler (find Johannes on the MODAM team page) investigated the costs of soil protection measures in a research area with about 12.500 ha (Schuler & Kächele 2001). With a regional approach in MODAM he calculated the cost of adjustment for farms with regard to different agricultural policy instruments and different production practices. Special attention was paid to the selection process for the plots to be subsidised. Scenarios for different levels of spatial allocation from plot (very target oriented) up to federal state (less target oriented) were calculated. In a first step these results underwent an efficiency analysis with regard to the reduction in soil erosion on regional level. In a second step the concerned administrative authorities performed a qualitative assessment on the results. Aim of this procedure was to reach an optimal combination of 'best practice' and 'best policy'.

The model region (Prenzlau-West) was part of the project area of the BMBF research project GRANO (Müller et al. 2002). In this part decentral solutions for regional environmental problems were discussed with all involved actors (e.g. farmers, nature conservationists, members of the regional administration). These discussions laid foundation to the development of regional agri-environmental measures (Arzt et al. 2002). To estimate the farm-level operational costs of measures to reduce erosion MODAM was successfully applied by Claudia Sattler (find Claudia on the MODAM team page) (Sattler 2008).

Literature
Arzt, K., E. Baranek, C.Berg, K. Hagedorn, J. Lepinat, K. Müller, U. Peters, T. Schatz, C. Schleyer, R. Schmidt, J. Schuler and I. Volkmann. 2002. Dezentrale Bewertungs- und Koordinationsmechanismen. In: K. Müller, V. Toussaint, H.-R. Bork, K. Hagedorn, J. Kern, U.J. Nagel, J. Peters, R. Schmidt, T. Weith, A. Werner, A. Dosch, A. Piorr [Eds.]. Nachhaltigkeit und Landschaftsnutzung: Neue Wege kooperativen Handelns. Weikersheim: Margraf-Verlag. p.29-96.
Müller, K., V. Toussaint, H.-R. Bork, K. Hagedorn, J. Kern, U.J. Nagel, J. Peters, R. Schmidt, T. Weith, A. Werner, A. Dosch and A. Piorr. 2002. Nachhaltigkeit und Landschaftsnutzung: Neue Wege kooperativen Handelns. Weikersheim: Margraf-Verlag. 410 p.
Sattler, C. 2008. Ökologische Bewertung landwirtschaftlicher Produktionsverfahren mittels Fuzzy Logic und Diskussion wirtschaftlicher und sozialer Einflußgrößen auf die Umsetzbarkeit umweltschonenderer Verfahren. Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Landwirtschaftlich Gärtnerische Fakultät. Dissertation (in Vorbereitung).
Schuler, J and H. Kächele. 2001. Best practice and best policy - an economic reflection of the implementation of the German soil protection act. In: K. Helming [Ed.] Multidisciplinary Approaches to Soil Conservation Strategies: Proceedings; Interantional Symposium ESSC, DBG, ZALF. Müncheberg: Selbstverlag. (ZALF-Berichte, Nr.47) p. 167-172.
Schuler, J. and H. Kächele. 2003. Modelling on-farm costs of soil conservation policies with MODAM. - Environmental Science & Policy.6 (1): 51-55 doi:10.1016/S1462-9011(02)00124-7
Schuler, J. and C. Sattler. 2008. The estimation of agricultural policy effects on soil erosion—An application for the
bio-economic model MODAM, Land Use Policy. in press. doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2008.05.001