The Economic Value of Farm Program Base

Mixed integer programming and dynamic programming models were used to obtain the implicit economic value of the initial endowment of base acreage on a cotton farm. While low levels of initial base have almost no impact on land value, high levels can be worth a considerable premium, with the implicit value of additional initial base endowment increasing at an increasing rate. This pattern of increasing implicit value can be explained by provisions of the farm program allowing base to be created by a landowner who develops a planting history in a program commodity.