An Economic and Environmental Evaluation of Farm Bill Policy Options Using the CEEPES-FAPRI Modeling System

This report estimates the economic and environmental trade-offs of the 1995 Farm Bill policy options evaluated by FAPRI. Assessments are provided for the 1995 FAPRI baseline, 25 percent Normal Flex, and the Revenue Assurance program. The authors describe the modeling systems and the CEEPES-FAPRI linkage, delineate the policy options and their likely economic and environmental impacts, and discuss predicted economic and environmental impacts of these policy options

Temporal and Spatial Evaluation of Soil Conservation Policies

Contained in this paper are estimates of the benefits and costs of alternative soil conservation policies in a spatially and temporally consistent framework. The policies considered are implementation of soil conservation practices with an objective of reducing erosion to a site\u27s tolerance level and a policy with an objective of a voluntary 50 percent reduction of conventional tillage. Costs and erosion benefits of these two policies are compared with those obtained from CRP

The House and Senate Visions of a CRP Renewal: An Appraisal of the Likely Efficiency Gains

Analysts who have studied how to increase the efficiency of the CRP agree that one simple step can result in dramatic gains; enroll only land with high environmental benefit-to-cost ratios. Too much of current CRP land was brought in with very low ratios, either because the contract rental rates were set too high, or the land offered too few environmental benefits

Dynamic Considerations for Control of Closed Life Support Systems

Reliability of closed life support systems depend on their ability to continue supplying the crew's needs during perturbations and equipment failures. The dynamic considerations interact with the basic static design through the sizing of storages, the specification of excess capacities in processors, and the choice of system initial state. A very simple system flow model was used to examine the possibilities for system failures even when there is sufficient storage to buffer the immediate effects of the perturbation. Two control schemes are shown which have different dynamic consequences in response to component failures

Program Participation and Farm-Level Adoption of Conservation Tillage: Estimates from a Multinomial Logit Model

Over the past decade, conservation compliance has reduced soil erosion. What will happen to these erosion benefits if commodity programs are eliminated or if the subsidy level is greatly reduced? This study investigates whether there will be a significant decline in the amount of acreage on which conservation practices are adopted if future farm program benefits are not tied to conservation compliance

CRP Targeting for Wildlife Habitat: A New Indicator Using the 1992 National Resources Inventory

Congress has wrestled with the issue of which land should be enrolled in a renewal of the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), considering that benefits to wildlife from CRP are substantial. This paper evaluates the amount of land that may qualify for CRP enrollment in order to provide high-value wildlife habitat and to present the potential enrollment costs. The assessment is based on a wildlife habitat indicator developed from the National Resources Inventory conducted by the Natural Resources Conservation Service

The Economic, Environmental, and Fiscal Impacts of a Targeted Renewal of Conservation Reserve Program Contracts

CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) renewal may depend on improved targeting of payments to maintain a significant portion of existing environmental and farm benefits at a reduced program cost. The authors consider three alternative renewal criteria: renewal of least expensive land first, renewal of most environmentally sensitive land first, and renewal of land according to the cost per unit of environmental benefit offered

Conservation Tillage and Farm Programs

One of the major environmental initiatives of current commodity programs is Conservation Compliance, a provision that requires highly erodible land to be cropped according to a locally approved conservation plan

Renewing CRP: Results from a Study of Alternative Targeting Criteria

To what extent can a significant portion of the environmental benefits offered by CRP be maintained if CRP outlays are significantly reduced? Recent CARD research reported here in a succinct manner addresses the issue of economic and environmental trade-offs in CRP