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Working land conservation programs support adoption and maintenance
of land management and structural conservation practices on
agricultural land, including cropland, grazing land, and in
some cases, forest land.
Key Changes
Funding is significantly increased through expansion of existing
programs and creation of new programs. Roughly $5.7 billion
in Commodity Credit Corporation
(CCC) funding is available over the next 6 years (2002-07)
for the Environmental Quality
Incentives Program (EQIP), Wildlife
Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP), and Conservation
Security Program (CSP). More than $12 billion is available
over 10 years (2002-11).
EQIP's focus on livestock producers increases, with 60 percent
of funding earmarked for livestock producers, up from 50 percent
in the 1996 Farm Act. Limits on the size of participating
livestock operations, which excluded operations with more
than 1,000 animal units, are eliminated. Payments are limited
to a total of $450,000 per operation over the 6-year life
of the Act. Participating livestock operations are required
to develop a comprehensive nutrient management plan.
EQIP will also put greater emphasis on water conservation.
A new, separate fund for ground and surface water conservation
activities is established within EQIP.
Changes in EQIP's procedures for assessing contract offers
include the following:
- Priority areas are eliminated.
- Maximization of environmental benefits per dollar of program
expenditure is no longer required, although "optimization
of environmental benefits" is cited as a purpose of
the program.
- "Bidding down" is eliminated. For contract offers
with comparable environmental values, the Secretary of Agriculture
cannot assign higher priority to an application based only
on a lower bid (for cost sharing) from the operator.
- Higher priority can be given to producers who 1) use cost-effective
conservation practices and 2) address national conservation
priorities.
Summary of Provisions
- The Environmental Quality Incentives Program provides
technical assistance, cost sharing, and incentive payments
to assist livestock and crop producers with conservation
and environmental improvements. Cost sharing (up to 75 percent)
or incentive payments can be provided for a wide range of
practices, including nutrient management, livestock waste
handling, conservation tillage, terraces, and filter strips.
EQIP is unique in its heavy focus on livestock producers.
- The newly created Conservation Security Program will provide payments to producers for maintaining or adopting
structural and/or land management practices that address
a wide range of local and/or national resource concerns.
As with EQIP, a wide range of practices can be subsidized.
But CSP will focus on land-based practices and specifically
excludes livestock waste-handling facilities. Producers
can participate at one of three tiers; higher tiers require
greater conservation effort and offer higher payments. The
lowest cost practices that meet conservation standards must
be used.
- The Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program provides
cost sharing to landowners and producers to develop and
improve wildlife habitat.
Economic Implications
Funding for conservation on working agricultural land is increasing
relative to funding for land retirement. Because past conservation
funding focused on land retirement, increased funding for
working land constitutes a significant change in overall conservation
program emphasis. EQIP and the newly initiated CSP are slated
to receive new funding of $11 billion over 10 years. The Congressional
Budget Office estimates that increasing CRP and WRP acreage
caps will increase land retirement spending by $3 billion
over the same period (from the April 2002 baseline). Expansion
of working land programs will make a broader array of conservation
options available to a larger group of producers. The increase
in the number of programs available may provide the flexibility
needed to develop conservation systems that deliver agri-environmental
gains at the lowest possible cost.
Changes in EQIP bid assessment procedures, however, may reduce
the overall level of environmental benefit per dollar of program
expenditure. Although "optimization of environmental
benefits" is cited as a purpose of the program, the requirement
to maximize environmental benefits per dollar of program expenditure
is eliminated. Eliminating priority areas will make it more
difficult to target EQIP funds to areas with the greatest
environmental need. The ability of producers to enhance prospects
for enrollment and reduce program cost by lowering bids (bidding
down) is eliminated, increasing the cost of some contracts.
CSP does not allow benefit-cost targeting.
EQIP's heavy focus on livestock operations and removal of
limits on the size of eligible livestock operations may help
assist larger livestock operations in complying with proposed
Clean Water Act regulations governing animal waste management
in large confined animal feeding operations. Greater funding
for working land conservation will also aid a wide range of
producers in complying with possible requirements related
to total maximum daily loads for watersheds under Clean Water
Act regulations currently being formulated by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency.
Finally, the large increase in funding for working land conservation
may have impacts beyond the farm sector. As participating
producers adjust production practices to comply with program
requirements, demand could increase for various inputs (e.g.,
manure handling equipment), agriculture-related services (e.g.,
crop consultant services), and technical assistance (which
can now be provided by private companies that are certified
by the Secretary).
For More Information...
For Program Agency Information...
- Farm
Service Agency—Administers the Conservation Reserve
Program, the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program, and
other conservation programs.
- Natural
Resources Conservation Service—Administers the
Environmental Quality Improvement Program, Wetland Reserve
Program, Wildlife Habitat Improvement Program, Farmland
Protection Program, and other conservation programs.
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