Additionality in agricultural conservation payment programs

Abstract

A large number of both state and federal agricultural policies are designed to pay farmers and ranchers to undertake conservation practices that have off-farm environmental benefits or long-run farm-productivity payoffs. These supported actions can include implementing a nutrient management plan, installing stream-side or field-edge buffers, adopting no-till, or retiring cropland to grass or tree cover. Payments can take the form of cost-sharing for explicit costs incurred by the farmer, specified payment amounts meant to capture the cost of transitioning to the new practices, or lost income, particularly when land is taken out of production. In fiscal year 2012, USDA spent nearly US$5.5 billion through voluntary payment programs to support the adoption of conservation practices.