Grain scarcity: A new era for conservation policies and programs

Abstract

### EVOLUTION OF CONSERVATION POLICIES AND PROGRAMS Contemporary soil and water conservation policies and programs in the United States had their genesis in public/political reaction to acute poverty among farmers in the 1920s and 1930s, environmental degradation from wind/water erosion during the Dust Bowl era, excessive grain production from the 1950s through the 1970s that resulted in large commodity surpluses, and low commodity prices. The first conservation policies/programs authorized and implemented during the 1930s were primarily focused on conservation education and technical assistance. The goal of these initial conservation efforts was to provide land owner-operators with the knowledge base necessary to implement conservation production systems at the farm level. These initiatives were relevant at the time because most farmers were not knowledgeable of the causes and consequences of severe soil erosion and subsequent water pollution. Agriculturalists were also not aware of conservation production systems that would significantly reduce degradation of soil and water resources. While initial conservation programs were widely implemented throughout the United States, adoption of conservation production systems at the farm level was relatively slow because most farmers did not possess requisite economic resources to implement new farm production systems. The first soil and water conservation…