USDA’s primary land retirement programs are the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and the Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP). Started in 1986, the CRP has retired over 34 million acres of environmentally sensitive cropland under 10-to 15-year contracts. The WRP, started in 1992, protects over 1.6...

By improving wildlife habitat and air and water quality, CRP has significantly increased the number and variety of wildlife, attracting bird watchers, hunters, anglers, and other outdoor recreation enthusiasts, who then spend money in rural areas. In 2004, ERS research confirmed that the CRP’s...

Reductions in maximum Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acres mandated by the 2008 Farm Act, along with relatively high agricultural commodity prices, could lead to reduced overall environmental benefits and higher CRP costs. ERS is analyzing alternative enrollment policies and practices that...

USDA's Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), now over 25 years old, removes over 29 million acres (as of October 2011) of environmentally sensitive cropland and pasture from production under 10- to 15-year contracts with farmers. The 2008 Farm Act capped program enrollment at 32 million acres,...

Since USDA conservation programs are voluntary, farmers base their participation decisions on local conditions, among other factors, and those decisions are influenced by the level of local drought risk; this is a form of climate adaptation. Various aspects of conservation program design —...

Where cities are expanding and urban-edge farmland receding, government farmland protection programs are becoming increasingly popular. At the root of support for these programs is the recognition that farmland produces more for society than food and fiber. This study provides a number of...

The Federal Government, all 50 States, many local jurisdictions, and over 1,200 land trusts and nonprofit conservation programs seek to maintain more land in farming uses than would otherwise be the case. ERS analysts found various objectives mentioned in the authorizing legislation for State...

The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) offers incentives for producers and landowners to voluntarily retire cropland. The program’s benefits to the environment, CRP participants, and other crop farmers have made it a recurring focus of farm program legislation. While anecdotal evidence...

CRP is approaching its 20th year of operation. From its inception, concerns have been raised that by retiring millions of acres of cropland, the program could disadvantage farming communities already hard hit by farm sector consolidation and globalization. Clearly the CRP does not benefit...

Many of the Nation’s conservation programs help to offset the negative environmental impacts of agricultural production. One tool many conservation program managers use to balance multiple objectives is a selection index. Using data from USDA’s Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), the...