Soil conservation policy: Local action and federal alternatives

Excerpt

SOIL conservation policy in the United States is in a process of ferment. Farmers, ranchers, researchers, government officials, and politicians are all groping for policies that will improve conservation behavior, and they are doing so in an era of shrinking budgets (5). Many long-established conservation programs are being questioned, the Agricultural Conservation Program among them (3). Further evidence of public concern about the need for new soil conservation policy is the evaluation of soil conservation policy alternatives by the U.S. Department of Agriculture under the Soil and Water Resources Conservation Act (5).

Several policy alternatives are being discussed. A “green ticket” program would enable farmers who follow good conservation practices to become eligible for more benefits under federal farm income support programs (2). Closely related is cross-compliance, which would require farmers to adopt erosion-control practices to participate in federal farm income support programs (1). Selected regulation of specific farming practices, when the payoff is great, has also been suggested (5). Other alternatives include increased cost-sharing funds for installing conservation measures, or requirements that if cost-sharing funds-are used practices must be maintained for several years after installation (5, 6). Finally …