Use of Land Reserves to Control Agricultural Production

Milton Ericksen

No 329880, Miscellaneous Publications from United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service

Abstract: A land reserve program is one instrument for achieving pro- duction adjustment. But the results of past programs have been less than expected because of "slippage." This term refers to the proportion of acreage put into a reserve for which there is no corresponding reduction in production of the crops being controlled. Slippage coefficients in land reserve programs during 1956-73 usually ranged between 0.4 and 0.5, implying a program efficiency rate of only 50-60 percent in reducing acreage. Acreage put into land reserve also tends to be less productive than acreage being cropped, thus further reducing program production abatement. A land reserve program which would link base acreage to the previous year's crop acreage is discussed. Land reserve acres would be required to come from the land actually used for production of the controlled crop in the previous year. One problem of such a plan would be that income supplements tied to annually updated bases might be an incentive for producers not to participate in the program for a year to establish a large base. The probability of this response would be decreased if income supplements were variable annually.

Keywords: Agricultural and Food Policy; Crop Production/Industries; Land Economics/Use; Research Methods/Statistical Methods (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 18
Date: 1976-09
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:uersmp:329880

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.329880

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