Enduring Impacts of Land Retirement Policies: Evidence from the Conservation Reserve Program

Michael Roberts and Ruben N. Lubowski

Land Economics, 2007, vol. 83, issue 4, 516-538

Abstract: We examine the persistence of cropland retirements induced by the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), the largest U.S. conservation program. We analyze micro data on observed land-use choices following CRP contract expiration over 1995–1997 and predict that 42% of CRP acres would not have been returned to crops within a year if the program had expired in 1997. These results indicate that temporary cropland retirement payments under CRP generate land-use changes that often extend beyond contract periods. The analysis suggests that targeted signing bonuses for first-time enrollees would increase the longer-term impacts of CRP and perhaps other incentive-based land-use programs.

JEL-codes: Q24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (51)

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