Conservation on Working Lands
updated September 2005
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In the 2002 Farm Bill, Congress sharply increased conservation
funding and allotted most of the increase to working-land
payment programs. A new ERS report, Flexible Conservation
Measures on Working Land (ERR-5), explores the implications
of program design on the extent to which environmental goals
are cost-effectively achieved. Through simulation analysis,
potential environmental gains and adjustments in agricultural
production, price, and income are estimated for various working
land payment program designs to illustrate tradeoffs that
policymakers may face in selecting one design over another.
Results suggest that allowing farmers to bid for financial
assistance and selecting participants based on a ranking of
farmers’ bids using benefit-cost criteria can substantially
increase the level of environmental gain achieved from a given
program budget. Payments that reward producers who are already
good stewards may divert funds from achieving new environmental
benefits, but may also encourage stronger maintenance of conservation
effort and yield long-term benefits. Roger
Claassen and Robert
Johansson.
On the Shoulders
of Giants
Between 1949 and 1994, ERS and its predecessor agencies published
the quarterly Journal
of Agricultural Economics Research to disseminate
technical discussion of economic issues, analyses, and measurement.
ERS recently released a bibliography of all the articles and
reviews that appeared in the Journal, compiled by
Gene Wunderlich, one of the Journal's editors. A number of
distinguished scholars graced the Journal's pages over its
45 years. You can form your own Who's Who list by scanning
the index of contributors, as Don Paarlberg did in a 1988
article, citing Fred Waugh, Marc Nerlove, and Karl Fox on
statistical methods; George Walter and Ray Anderson on soil
and water conservation; Harry Norcross and Clark Edwards on
macroeconomics; Allen Paul on agribusiness; Harold Breimyer
on livestock; Calvin Beale on demographics; Sherman Johnson
and D. Gale Johnson on foreign development; Alex McCalla on
trade; and the list goes on. Thomas
McDonald.
Comprehensive China Database
China Agricultural and Economic Data
is the world's most comprehensive English-language online
collection of agriculturally related statistics for China.
ERS has assembled in a single database 250 data items at the
national level and 45 items at the provincial level, which
can be downloaded in various formats. Included are statistics
on agricultural production, food consumption, macroeconomics,
prices, and industrial output in China, one of the world's
most important agricultural economies. Many series go back
as far as 1949, and the most recent data currently available
are for 2003. Fred Gale.
Many Factors Influence
Overweight and Obesity
In "Dietary Habits, Demographics, and the Development
of Overweight and Obesity among Children in the United States"
(Food Policy, 30(April 2005):115-128), researchers
from ERS, Southern Arkansas University, the University of
Georgia, and the University of Florida examined the factors
that influence overweight and obesity among school-age U.S.
children using data from USDA's 1994-96 and 1998 Continuing
Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals. Black and Hispanic
children seem more likely to be at risk for being overweight.
Poverty is also associated with the likelihood of overweight
among school-age children. Frequency of physical exercise
was positively associated with normal weight. Sedentary behavior
was negatively associated with normal weight and positively
associated with overweight among children ages 12-18. The
consumption of low-fat milk, other dairy products, fruits,
and legumes is negatively associated with risk for overweight
and obese. In contrast, increasing consumption of soft drinks,
fats and oils, and sodium appears to be the major dietary
factors that are positively associated with childhood overweight.
Biing-Hwan Lin.
New Environmental Quality
Incentives Program Data
Corel
USDA's
Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) provides technical,
financial, and educational assistance to producers for a wide
range of agri-environmental activities. ERS's
EQIP database, updated in June 2005, presents an overview
of which 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. All results are presented at the
national level, for ERS Farm Resource Regions, and for ERS
Farm Production Regions. Allocation of EQIP funds is also
broken down by State. Rob
Johansson.
Commodity Markets
and Trade
ERS Outlook reports provide timely analysis of major commodity
markets and trade, including special reports on hot topics.
All reports are available electronically and can be found
at http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/outlook/,
along with a calendar of future releases. Joy
Harwood.
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