Overview
Conservation of environmental resources that are an integral
part of farming is a major goal of USDA. This ERS research
program conducts economic research on the efficiency,
effectiveness and equity of policies and programs directed
toward improving the environmental performance of the
agricultural sector.
Features
The Use Of Markets To Increase Private Investment in Environmental Stewardship—U.S. farmers and ranchers control significant amounts of natural resources that can provide a host of environmental services, including cleaner air and water, flood control, and wildlife. Creating markets for environmental services could increase private investment in environmental stewardship and increase the flow of environmental services. See also the related Amber
Waves article.
Integrating
Commodity and Conservation Programs: Design Options
and Outcomes—Can a single program support
farm income and encourage producers to adopt environmentally
sound farming practices? Analysis of hypothetical scenarios
shows that policymakers would face significant tradeoffs
in designing a single program to achieve both goals.
Cost-effective environmental gains are achieved largely
by supporting producers who can deliver large environmental
gains per dollar. These producers, however, are not
necessarily those historically receiving commodity
program payments. See also the related Amber
Waves article.
Environmental Effects
of Agricultural Land-Use Change: The Role of Economics
and Policy—This report examines evidence on
the relationship between agricultural land-use changes,
soil productivity, and indicators of environmental sensitivity.
ERS examines environmental outcomes of land-use conversion
prompted by two agricultural programs that others have
identified as potentially having important influences
on land use and environmental quality: Federal crop insurance
subsidies and the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP),
the Nation's largest cropland retirement program. See
the related Amber
Waves feature article.
 Agricultural
Resources and Environmental Indicators, 2006 Edition—The
chapters in this report describe trends in resources
used in and affected by agricultural production, as
well as the economic conditions and policies that
influence agricultural resource use and its environmental
impacts. Specific analysis looks at policy measures used to address agriculture's impact on the
environment, including land retirement and working-lands programs, compliance
provisions, and farmland protection.
Balancing the Multiple
Objectives of Conservation Programs—Many of
the Nation's conservation programs use an index approach
to prioritize environmental and cost objectives. The
weights used in selection indices in the CRP (and in
other conservation programs) determine which lands are
enrolled, and the mixture of environmental objectives
achieved. This report finds that small changes in index
weights do not markedly affect national levels of environmental
benefits, but larger changes can have a moderate impact.
See the related Amber
Waves summary article.
Recommended Readings
Emphasis
Shifts in U.S. Conservation Policy—Amber
Waves, July, 2006. To address the negative impacts
and enhance the positive outcomes that some farming practices
can have on natural resources, policymakers have both
increased conservation program funding and shifted its
emphasis.
Measuring
the Success of Conservation Programs—Amber
Waves, July, 2006. Though farmers may be induced
by conservation program payments to change their farming
practices, it is difficult to link their actions to outcomes,
because they take place within a larger set of complex
interactions.
Conservation-Compatible
Practices and Programs: Who Participates?—Farm
operators have an incentive to adopt farming practices
that can increase their profits, but they are less encouraged
by the prospect of undertaking costly practices that may
benefit the environment but do little to improve their
bottom lines. Operators of small farms and operators not
primarily focused on farming are less likely to adopt
management-intensive conservation practices or participate
in working-land conservation programs. Also see the related
Amber Waves finding and feature article.
See all recommended readings...
Recommended Data Products
Environmental
Quality Improvement Program (EQIP) Data—The
Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) provides
technical, financial, and educational assistance for a
wide range of agri-environmental activities. The data
presented here provide an overview of what conservation
practices are being funded, preliminary estimates of unit
costs for the most commonly contracted conservation practices
and, a comparison of unit costs for different contract
sizes to determine the extent to which economies of scale
exist practice by practice.
Major Land Uses—This data series contains estimates for major land uses in the United States,
by State, for 1945-2002. The series is the only consistent historical accounting
of major land uses, public and private, in all 50 States. The latest inventory
of U.S. major land uses finds that total cropland area in 2002 was 442 million
acres, its lowest level since 1945. Several other classes and subclasses of
land are considered, including forest, pasture and range, urban, and miscellaneous
and special uses such as parks and recreational areas. The annual cropland
portion of the series has been consistently maintained since 1910 and has recently
been updated through 2005.
Conservation
Reserve Program Summary File—County-level
data for contracts and acres enrolled by fiscal year (1986-93)
and signup periods 1-12. Includes average rental rates,
acres enrolled by level of erosion, conservation treatments
applied, cost share data, base acreage reductions, and
alternative use acreage. November 1995.
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