Abstract
AbstractCover crops can generate both on-farm and water-quality benefits. However, their use in Iowa remains subdued, partly due to implementation costs faced by farmers. We tested the hypothesis that monetary incentives through cost-share programs are effective at increasing the area of farmland planted to cover crops in Iowa, as opposed to the alternative in which the participants of cost-share programs would have planted the same cover-crop acreage in the absence of payment. We found that cost-share payments induced a 15 percentage-point expansion in cover-crop acreage beyond what would have been planted in the absence of payment, among farmers who participated in cost-share programs. The estimated additionality rate was 54%, suggesting at least half of cost-share expenditures funded cover-crop acreage that would not have been planted without payment. Furthermore, we estimated the public cost to reduce nitrogen loads to Iowa waterways via cover crop, beyond what would have occurred in the absence of cost-share programs, to be $1.72–$4.70 lb−1N ($3.79–$10.36 kg−1N). Farmers absorbed about 70% of those costs as private losses, and cost-share payments offset the remaining 30%. Although the additionality rate estimated in this study is less than what has been found in other states, the cost-share programs in Iowa have been relatively cost-effective, due to their lower payment rate.
Highlights
Row-crop farming in the Midwestern USA remains a major non-point source of nutrient pollution to waterways
The environmental services provided by cover crops in Iowa are relevant to manage water quality in the Midwest—but most notably in the hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico—where two-thirds of the nitrogen that makes up the hypoxic zone is estimated to originate from cultivated agriculture in the Mississippi River Basin (White et al, 2014)
Past cover-crop acreage increased the probability of receiving cost-share, since farmers who are more familiar with conservation practices may better understand the nuances of the conservation programs
Summary
Row-crop farming in the Midwestern USA remains a major non-point source of nutrient pollution to waterways. The in-field benefits from long-term use of cover crops include reduced soil loss (Kaspar et al, 2001), increased soil organic matter (Kaspar and Singer, 2011; Moore et al, 2014), improved soil health (Snapp et al, 2005) and enhanced water-storage capacity and water infiltration (Basche et al, 2016). Despite their considerable benefits to the cropping system, adoption of cover crops remains subdued in the Midwest. To estimate the additionality of cover-crop cost-share programs in Iowa, we used a matching estimator combining farm-level data from a cover-crop survey that had been linked to the 2012 Census of Agriculture
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