You're conflating land tax (or land rent) with land use.

A land value tax would be the wrong thing for agricultural land because it would incentivise people to pillage as quickly as possible and exit so as to minimise their tax burden.

Collecting royalties is appropriate because you're charging people for what they've taken. The more they pillage the land, the more they have to pay. If anything, it's a disincentive!

I agree with you that the environment is extremely important and I believe that this can be achieved by managing resources with a long-term mindset. One of the things I love about permaculture is how they focus on building soil and rehabilitating land.