High crop prices and conservation

Excerpt

Agricultural conservation policy does not happen in a vacuum but, rather, is linked to a myriad of other policies affecting individual farms, national and international trade, and energy production and distribution. While the primary purpose of commodity subsidies is to supplement farmer income, they have also had a strong influence on cropland expansion and agricultural intensification. One result of this expansion and intensification has been burgeoning crop productivity. Another has been a decline in the provision of ecosystem services, the benefits that people obtain from ecosystems. The services people obtain from agroecosystems include soil stabilization and enhancement, water filtration and flood control, carbon sequestration, wildlife habitat, and recreation opportunities (e.g., hunting and wildlife viewing). This tension between farmer income support and the provision of ecosystem services is inherent to the current configuration of US agricultural conservation policies such as the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). Developed during a time of crop surpluses, CRP was originally a set-aside mechanism to reduce both soil erosion and the overall amount of crops produced. Today, the program has a stronger focus on environmental impacts.

The recent emergence of the bioeconomy—which we define as the production, distribution, and consumption of agricultural goods and services to meet …