Short-term and long-term implications of soil loss control on U.S. agriculture

Earl O. Heady; David R. Daines

ABSTRACT:

Three policy alternatives were analyzed with a national and interregional programming model to determine their effectiveness in attaining national soil conservation goals: (a) establishment of an absolute soil loss limit of 5 tons per acre per year on all farms and land groups, (b) a tax on each ton of soil loss, and (c) subsidies for soil conservation practices based on the practices' effectiveness in controlling soil loss. The analysis showed the subsidy policy to be preferable, both in terms of its effectiveness in reducing soil loss and in terms of its practicality of application.

Footnotes

Earl O. Heady is a Curtiss Distinguished Professor of Agriculture and professor of economics, and is director of the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development, Iowa State University, Ames, 50011. David R. Daines, Jr., is a research associate at CARD. Journal Paper No. J-10103 of the Iowa Agricultural and Home Economics Experiment Station, Ames, Iowa, Project 2106.
Copyright 1982 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society

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