Do Conservation Programs Matter? New Reports Show How.

Conservation is a fundamental part of advancing sustainable bioenergy, farms and forests. Recent reports and studies highlight the critical role conservation programs play in protecting and restoring the nation’s environmental health.

In June, the American Forest Foundation (AFF) released its 2012 Forests in the Farm Bill Progress Report , highlighting the impact of and demand for conservation programs among family forest owners. From the AFF web page, these include:

• Nearly 5 percent of EQIP [Environmental Quality Incentives Program] and 32 percent of WHIP [Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program] funds were used to address significant threats to communities and forests. Even these relatively small investments are going a long way to reduce forest fire risk, mitigate the effects of invasive species, and enhance native species habitat.
• Dollar-for-dollar, federal EQIP dollars matched private landowner investments, providing more than $80 million for on-the-ground forest conservation improvements.
• Federal investments in WHIP leveraged private funds to provide more than $25 million for forest wildlife improvements, protecting and sustaining valuable woodland species.
• More than 629,000 new forested acres were enrolled in CSP [Conservation Stewardship Program], engaging better stewardship on more forested acres.

July 11, the Council on Food, Agriculture and Resource Economics (C-FARE) released four reports under the heading of The Conservation Crossroads in Agriculture .

In a statement from C-FARE Chair Damona Doye, the council observes: Agriculture today faces significant economic, environmental and societal pressures, including shifting growing regions, severe weather events, competition for water access and mounting public awareness and concern over production methods and their ecological and environmental impacts. It is not an overstatement to say that today’s agricultural systems are truly at a crossroads. And nowhere is this crossroads more evident than in our national debate over the role of conservation in agriculture.

The reports are as follows:

• Top 10 Design Elements to Achieve More Efficient Conservation Programs . Prof. David Zilberman, University of California at Berkeley and Prof. Kathleen Segerson, University of Connecticut
• Economic and Environmental Effects of Agricultural Insurance Programs . Prof. Daniel A. Sumner, University of California at Davis and Prof. Carl Zulauf, Ohio State University
• Examining the Relationship of Conservation Compliance & Farm Program Incentives . Prof. Otto Doering, Purdue University and Katherine Smith, American Farmland Trust
• Implications of a Reduced Conservation Reserve Program . Prof. JunJie Wu and Prof. Bruce Weber of Oregon State University