The Conservation Reserve Program: Economic Implications for Rural America
by
Patrick Sullivan,
Daniel Hellerstein,
LeRoy Hansen, Robert Johansson, Steven Koenig, Ruben N. Lubowski,
William McBride,
David McGranahan,
Stephen Vogel, Michael Roberts, and Shawn Bucholtz
Agricultural Economic Report No. (AER-834) 112 pp, October 2004
This report estimates the impact that high levels of enrollment in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) have had on economic trends in rural counties since the program’s inception in 1985 until today. The results of a growth model and quasi-experimental control group analysis indicate no discernible impact by the CRP on aggregate county population trends. Aggregate employment growth may have slowed in some high-CRP counties, but only temporarily. High levels of CRP enrollment appear to have affected farm-related businesses over the long run, but growth in the number of other nonfarm businesses moderated CRP’s impact on total employment. If CRP contracts had ended in 2001, simulation models suggest that roughly 51 percent of CRP land would have returned to crop production, and that spending on outdoor recreation would decrease by as much as $300 million per year in rural areas. The resulting impacts on employment and income vary widely among regions having similar CRP enrollments, depending upon local economic conditions.
Keywords: Conservation Reserve Program, CRP, rural development, rural employment, land retirement impacts, land-use changes, recreation spending
In this publication...
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Research Brief, Pdf file 58 kb | HTML
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Introduction, Pdf file 2,319 kb
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Abstract, Acknowledgments, Contents, and Summary, Pdf file 68 kb
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Rural Economic Trends Following CRP’s Implementation, Pdf file 734 kb
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Land-Use and Economic Implications of Expiring CRP Contracts, Pdf file 2,346 kb
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Conclusions, Pdf file 51 kb
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References, Pdf file 74 kb
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Appendix A: Modeling Rural County Socioeconomic Change, Pdf file 71 kb
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Appendix B: Predicting Land-Use Changes, Pdf file 130 kb
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Appendix C: Description of the Recreation Models, Pdf file 65 kb
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Appendix D: U.S. Regional Agricultural Sector Model, Pdf file 63 kb
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Appendix E: The Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) Multiplier Framework, Pdf file 78 kb
- Entire Document, Pdf file NaN kb
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