Trade-offs between environmental and profitability effects offer a helpful way to think about environmental values without relying on direct monetary measures. Environmental-profitability trade-off analysis involves two measures: an environmental one and a profitability one. Usually the environmental measure is in physical units (e.g., mass or density units), while the profitability one is in monetary units (e.g., revenues, costs, or net returns).

Mapping alternative practices or policies by these two criteria can show which ones are "efficient" in the sense of giving the best profitability for a given level of environmental performance, or the best environmental outcome at a given profitability level. In the picture, alternative A gives lower profit but also lower toxic emissions than alternative B. Alternative C is not efficient compared with A and B, because C would create more toxic emissions or less profit than a mix of A and B (illustrated by the connecting line). Efficient choices will lie on a frontier, where there is a trade-off between improving profitability and environmental performance.

The efficient alternatives that lie on the frontier permit trade-off comparisons. For example, one measure of the value of reduced toxic emissions by moving from B to A in the picture is the value of reduced profits that accompany such a move.

Examples of environment-profitability trade-off studies in agriculture
The trade-off analysis method explained above is illustrated by concrete examples in the studies linked to this page.

Where to get profitability data?
Profitability data generally come from budgets or cost estimates.

Where to get agro-environmental indicator data
Data on specific environmental attributes can be found in a variety of databases and simulation models. Agro-environmental data with links from this site include soil erosion, pesticides, water quality (including nitrate leaching and phosphorus runoff), and greenhouse gas emissions.