We analyze how choosing to use a particular type of instrument for agri-environmental payments, when these payments are constrained by the regulatory authority's budget, implies an underlying targeting criterion with respect to costs, benefits, participation, and income, and the tradeoffs among...

A discrete choice model and site-specific data are used to analyze land use choices between crop production and pasture in the Corn Belt. The results show that conversion probabilities depend on relative returns, land quality, and government policy. In general it is found that landowners are...

From 1985 to 2002, most Federal conservation dollars going to farm operators have been to retire land from crop production. Yet most U.S. farmland (850 million acres) remains in active production. The Farm Security and Rural Investment (FSRI) Act of 2002 sharply increased conservation funding...

In recent years, the Federal Government has increased its emphasis on conservation programs that reward good stewardship on working farmland. This report examines the business, operator, and household characteristics of farms that have adopted certain conservation-compatible practices, with and...

We develop a watershed-based model of green payments to examine how payments applied to different environmental performance measures compare on the basis of economic efficiency, equity, and environmental outcomes. We also explore how targeting in the specification of water quality goals (e.g.,...

A multitude of design decisions influence the performance of voluntary conservation programs. This Economic Brief is one of a set of five exploring the implications of decisions policymakers and program managers must make about who is eligible to receive payments, how much can be received, for...

U.S. agricultural conservation policy has focused on a range of potential policy instruments centered on voluntary approaches tied into Depression-era commodity programs. Entering the twenty-first century, conservation policy is at a crossroads between more coercive regulatory policies, more...

Society has recently increased the value it places on the services that wetlands provide, including water quality improvements, flood control, wildlife habitat, and recreation. However, owners of wetlands are often unable to profit from these services because the benefits created are freely...

Since 1985, U.S. agricultural producers have been required to practice soil conservation on highly erodible cropland and conserve wetlands as a condition of farm program eligibility. This report discusses the general characteristics of compliance incentives, evaluates their effectiveness in...