Integrating Commodity and Conservation Programs: Design Options and Outcomes
by
Roger Claassen,
Marcel Aillery, and
Cynthia Nickerson
Economic Research Report No. (ERR-44) 61 pp, October 2007
cover image for err44
Can a single program support farm income and encourage producers to adopt environmentally sound farming practices? While simple in concept, attempting to roll the farm income support features of existing commodity programs and conservation payments into a single program raises questions. Exactly how would farm commodity and conservation payments be combined? What difference would it make for environmental gain and farm income support? This report approaches the questions in two ways. First, spending patterns in existing commodity and conservation programs are analyzed to determine the extent to which producers who are currently receiving commodity payments also receive conservation payments. Then, a number of hypothetical program scenarios are devised and analyzed to estimate how emphasis on current income support recipients would differ from a combined program that focuses on achieving cost-effective environmental gain. The results show that policymakers face significant tradeoffs between environmental (conservation) objectives and farm income support objectives in designing a program that provides both income support and environmental gain.
Keywords: commodity programs, payments, producers, conservation, environmental performance, environmental gain, income support, green payments, cost, farm, compliance, practices, eligibility, distribution
In this publication...
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Report summary, Pdf file 90 kb
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Abstract, Acknowledgments, Contents, and Summary, Pdf file 2,050 kb
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Supporting Farm Income and the Environment: Can a Single Program Do Both?, Pdf file 65 kb
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Existing Conservation and Income Support Programs: Different Purposes, Different Payments, Different Producers, Pdf file 210 kb
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Green Payment Program Design: A Matter of Perspective, Pdf file 72 kb
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Producer Participation: Doing the Math, Pdf file 62 kb
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Green Payment Program Design Tradeoffs: Do Income Support and Environmental Gain Go Well Together?, Pdf file 363 kb
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Conclusions, Pdf file 59 kb
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References, Pdf file 59 kb
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Appendix 1: Environmental Index for Green Payments, Pdf file 79 kb
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Appendix 2: Acres Eligible for Treatment, Pdf file 67 kb
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Appendix 3: Producer Economic Cost/Willingness to Accept (WTA), Pdf file 110 kb
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Appendix 4: Producer Decision Rules, Pdf file 246 kb
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Appendix 5: Sensitivity Analysis, Pdf file 259 kb
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Entire report, Pdf file 3,011 kb
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