Costs and benefits of the Conservation Reserve Program

Abstract

IF and when it reaches its enrollment target of 40 million to 45 million acres, the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) will be the largest conservation-oriented cropland retirement program in the nation's history. As such, considerable interest exists in the overall economic efficiency and in potential modifications of the program. The results of a detailed Economic Research Service study ( 3 ) form the basis for discussing the probable economic effects on national income resulting from retiring 45 million acres by 1991. The study estimated the effect of a 45-million-acre CRP because this level of enrollment was believed attainable at the time of the analysis. The CRP, of course, is a voluntary long-term cropland retirement program. In exchange for retiring cropland with highly erodible soils or other environmentally sensitive land for 10 years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) pays CRP participants (farm owners or operators) an annual per-acre rent and one-half of the cost of establishing a permanent land cover. The CRP's primary goal is to reduce soil erosion on highly erodible cropland. Secondary objectives of …