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ABSTRACT:
This article examines the value-added of integrating onsite, farm-level environmental data with farm enterprise, resource, and household economic data when evaluating production-practice decisions and conservation program participation. Conservation practice acreage allocation and erosion plan adoption models are estimated to account for both program participation and land heterogeneity. We test whether inferences about operator behavior and conservation practices differ when aggregated environmental data is used instead of onsite information. Inference about producer behavior with respect to acres allocated to conservation structures and the probability of adopting an erosion plan differs significantly, depending on the resolution of the environmental variables used in the models. Detailed onsite information about the physical environment, management practices, and the farm household provides the analyst with a means to integrate more completely landscape heterogeneity and farm diversity within the design, implementation, and evaluation of conservation programs, thereby improving their overall cost effectiveness.
Keywords: Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS), Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP), data aggregation, high-resolution data, information value, survey design, USDA conservation programs
The Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) was initiated in 2003 to monitor and evaluate the environmental effectiveness and economic costs of U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) conservation programs (NRCS, 2004; Mausbach and Dedrick, 2004). The project is spearheaded by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and the Agricultural Research Service (ARS). Lind use categories covered by the project include cropland, agro-torestry lands, wetlands, and grazing lands. Primary resource concerns include water quality, soil quality, water conservation, air quality, and wildlife habitat rehabilitation. One objective of CEAP is to develop and model conservation benefits and quantify the impact of conservation practices at the watershed scale using tanner surveys about conservation practices and program participation. This survey information can be linked to National Resources Inventory (NRI) data points, providing a mechanism to measure the effects of conservation behavior on the physical environment.
CEAP nukes possible linkages between changes in farming behavior and participation in conservation programs. 13ut farmers may adopt conservation practices for reasons other than the conservation program itself. For example, in 2001, Wt percent of corn farmers were using crop residue management, even though they did not need to in order to meet conservation compliance requirements (Hopkins and Johansson, 2004). But a profit motive may not...