Dana L. Hoag

Environmental indices and the politics of the Conservation Reserve Program

Abstract Environmental indicators can be used to target public programs to provide a variety of benefits. Social scientists, physical scientists, and politicians have roles in developing indicators that reflect the demands of diverse interest groups. We review the US Department of Agriculture’s Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), the largest agricultural conservation program the United States, to determine how a set of environmental indicators were developed and used, and assess results of their application. The use of such indicators has helped the CRP increase and broaden the program’s environmental benefits beyond erosion reduction, which was the primary focus of early program efforts, to meet other demands. This case study provides an example about how integration and assessment for the purpose of managing public resources requires more than natural science disciplines. Social science can help explain how public values influence what information is collected and how it is interpreted. Examples are given to show how the indices used for the CRP integrated science, politics and social values. In the end, the environmental benefits index (EBI) used to target US

Theory and Practice of Pollution Credit Trading in Water Quality Management

20 billion of CRP funds reflects compromises made between science and policy considerations. It is our intention that studying this index will yield ideas and understanding from the natural science community that develops ecosystem indices about how to better plug in to programs in the future.

FARM COMPUTER ADOPTION IN THE GREAT PLAINS

We compare the theory of pollution credit trading and its application in the Tar-Pamlico nutrient-trading program in North Carolina. Five such programs exist in the United States, but trades are not being made. Six concepts for a successful program were identified from twenty-five years of literature on marketable permits, including: transaction costs, number and relative discharge of participants, abatement costs, enforcement costs, trading ratio, and loading limits. Comparing these concepts to implementation highlighted several factors that encourage or discourage trades. The program reduced transaction costs by trading at a fixed rate. However, this eliminated the marginal cost benefits crucial for efficient trading. In addition, safety-netted trade ratios raised trading costs. Allowable emissions exceed expected emission levels. Better monitoring and evaluation by economists will reveal where research or communication must be improved and ensure that the fruits of our labors are not unharvested.

Improving conservation practices programming to protect water quality in agricultural watersheds: Lessons learned from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture-Conservation Effects Assessment Project

Computers change rapidly, yet the last survey on computer use in agriculture was in 1991. We surveyed Great Plains producers in 1995 and used logit analysis to characterize adopters and non-adopters. About 37% of these producers use computers which is consistent with the general population. We confirmed previous surveys emphasizing the importance of education, age/experience, and other farm characteristics on adoption. However, we also found that education and experience may no longer be a significant influence. Future research and education could focus on when and where computers are most needed, and therefore when adoption is most appropriate.

Computer use in agriculture: an analysis of Great Plains producers☆

Nutrient enrichment and sedimentation of water resources is a significant problem in the United States and globally (Carpenter et al. 2011; Dubrovsky et al. 2010; Hilton et al. 2006). Specifically, in the United States, over 6,908 water bodies are listed as being nutrient impaired and 6,165 are sediment impaired (USEPA 2012). Agricultural nonpoint source pollution contributes, in part, to impaired water resources in many of these watersheds (NRC 2008; USEPA 2010). Conservation practices, including conservation tillage, nutrient management, and riparian buffers, are routinely used to reduce off-site losses of sediment, nutrients, pesticides, and bacteria from agricultural operations. Many research studies, generally conducted at the plot- or field-scale, report ranges in effectiveness of such conservation practices, from being negative to 100% effective (Gagnon et al. 2004; Gagnon et al. 2008; Jokela et al. 2004; Line et al. 2001; Richards and Baker 2002; Schnepf and Cox 2006; Sharpley et al. 2006; Shepard 2005; Smith et al. 2006). Documentation of combined practice impacts on water quality at the watershed scale has been more difficult than in plot or field-scale studies. The Black Creek Project in northeastern Indiana and the Model Implementation Program (MIP) promoted by the USDA and US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA)…

Manure Value and Liveweight Swine Decisions

Computers have changed a great deal in the past decade, yet the last survey of computer use in agriculture was performed in 1991. Furthermore, previous computer use surveys are not very extensive in coverage. In the summer and fall of 1996, we conducted a random survey of Great Plains producers. The purpose of the survey was to examine three questions: (1) who adopts computers and what are they and their farms like; (2) what are the characteristics of non-adopters; and (3) what tasks do producers want computers to perform? Our results confirmed that most of the variables earlier studies identified as influential on computer adoption still had an impact. These included farm size (acres and sales), ownership of livestock, farm tenure, and off-farm employment exposure to computer use. We found some question as to whether age or experience is a better predictor of computer adoption. Moreover, there also appears to be reason to question whether education has a significant impact on adoption.

Farmers’ Use of Nutrient Management: Lessons from Watershed Case Studies

Produced as a joint product, economic theory suggests that manure value could influence livestock management decisions such as herd size and optimal market weights. This study examines the concept of manure and its connection with optimal replacement age or market weight. A model of a swine finishing operation representative of North Carolina conditions is developed. Over the range of conditions considered, manure value is negative and does not affect market weights. The marginal per head change in manure value is small relative to the marginal per head change in net returns from pork production. Further, economies of scale with respect to irrigation cause manure value to increase with herd size.

Factors Impacting Agricultural Landowners' Willingness to Enter into Conservation Easements: A Case Study

Nutrient enrichment of water resources has degraded coastal waters throughout the world, including in the United States (e.g., Chesapeake Bay, Gulf of Mexico, and Neuse Estuary). Agricultural nonpoint sources have significant impacts on water resources. As a result, nutrient management planning is the primary tool recommended to reduce nutrient losses from agricultural fields. Its effectiveness requires nutrient management plans be used by farmers. There is little literature describing nutrient management decision-making. Here, two case studies are described that address this gap: (i) a synthesis of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, the Conservation Effects Assessment Project, and (ii) field surveys from three nutrient-impaired river basins/watersheds in North Carolina (Neuse, Tar-Pamlico, and Jordan Lake drainage areas). Results indicate farmers generally did not fully apply nutrient management plans or follow basic soil test recommendations even when they had them. Farmers were found to be hesitant to apply N at university-recommended rates because they did not trust the recommendations, viewed abundant N as insurance, or used recommendations made by fertilizer dealers. Exceptions were noted when watershed education, technical support, and funding resources focused on nutrient management that included easing management demands, actively and consistently working directly with a small group of farmers, and providing significant resource allocations to fund agency personnel and cost-share funds to farmers. Without better dialogue with farmers and meaningful investment in strategies that reward farmers for taking what they perceive as risks relative to nutrient reduction, little progress in true adoption of nutrient management will be made.

Field-Level Measurement of Land Productivity and Program Slippage

Agricultural lands offer an abundance of environmental goods and services, yet face residential development pressures. Conservation easements are frequently used to protect both productive land and environmental amenities. The landowner retains ownership, and may donate development rights or receive compensation for permanently limiting development on the property. Focus groups were conducted with agricultural landowners in Wyoming and Colorado to explore factors affecting their preferences for conservation easements. Results from the focus groups reveal that landowners have concerns about providing easements in perpetuity. They also considered public access to and loss of managerial control of their property as obstacles. Focus-group results indicated that landowners valued the provision of public goods, such as wildlife habitat and open space, to neighboring communities, and generally felt something important would be lost to their communities if their lands were developed. Addressing landowner concerns could potentially increase the volume of easement transactions.

Sustainability indices with multiple objectives

The importance of heterogenous land quality in determining slippage on corn production in North Carolina is quantitatively analyzed. Field-level analysis controls for the influence of land productivity from other factors to determine the significance of the land decisions on slippage. Results show that yield hikes from the diversion of low-quality land by farmers comprise a minor contribution to total increases in average yield.