Factors influencing environmental stewardship in U.S. agriculture:Conservation program participants vs. non-participants

Authors

Glenn D. Schaible, Resource and Rural Economics Division, Economic Research Service, USDAFollow
Ashok K. Mishra, Department of Agricultural Economics & Agribusiness, LSU,Follow
Dayton M. Lambert, Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, University of TennesseeFollow
George Panterov, Europe & Central Asia, World BankFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2015

Citation

Land Use Policy

Comments

U.S. Government work

Abstract

United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) conservation policy has increasingly shifted from atraditional land-retirement focus to greater emphasis on producer adoption of working-land conserva-tion practices. This research made use of USDA integrated field/farm surveys, the Conservation EffectsAssessment Project (CEAP) and Agricultural Resources Management Survey (ARMS), to (1) enhanceunderstanding of operator, field, farm, economic, and environmental characteristic differences betweenconservation program participants and non-participants across a farm typology, and (2) to enhanceunderstanding of the relative importance of these factors on influencing farm stewardship intensityin corn and wheat production, i.e., how these factors influence differences in producer adoption of alter-native levels of land and pest-management practices between conservation program participants andnon-participants. The research used a cost-function acreage-based technology adoption model to exam-ine farm stewardship differences. Results indicate that program non-participants invest more heavily inland conserving and pest-management practices than program participants. Relative prices, structural,and socio-environmental factors play significantly different roles across crops, and between conservationprogram participants and non-participants, in their influence on producer adoption decisions for landand pest-management intensity. The environmental effectiveness and cost efficiency of conservationprograms will likely improve when their implementation more explicitly recognizes farm heterogeneityas well as differences in farmer motivations for stewardship investments. Recognizing these differencescan help improve targeting of conservation incentive structures.