This report estimates the impact that high levels of enrollment in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) have had on economic trends in rural counties since the program's inception in 1985 until today. The results of a growth model and quasi-experimental control group analysis indicate no...

Policies affecting the use of public lands can have direct consequences for industries that rely on outputs from those lands. In recent years, environmental concerns have prompted a revisiting of the policies governing the use of those lands. Subsequently, alternative policies have been proposed...

The economic efficiency of wetland mitigation in Minnesota's Red River Valley was examined using the Minnesota Routine Assessment Method on ten wetland case studies to rate the functions of impacted and replacement wetlands. Secondary sources were used to assign dollar values to wetland...

Land quality and land degradation affect agricultural productivity, but quantifying these relationships has been difficult. Data are limited, and impacts are sensitive to the choices that farmers make. Summarizing new research by economists, soil scientists, and geographers, this report explores...

The objective of this study was to estimate some economic values of Mud Lake, a managed, lacustrine wetland on the Minnesota-South Dakota border. Several outputs of Mud Lake were identified and an economic value was estimated for each. Flood control was valued at approximately $440 per acre,...

This report presents the effects of alternative crop and soil management systems on annual soil losses and revenues by land class and by farm in the Muskrat Lake Watershed, Mountrail County of North Dakota.