Profiles of US farm households adopting conservation-compatible practices

Abstract

In recent years, the United States (US) government has put increasing emphasis on conservation programs geared toward rewarding good stewardship on working farmland. And, while the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) farmland retirement programs continue to command the lion's share of the conservation budget, roughly 80 percent of current land retirement contracts are due to expire before the end of the decade. With the 2007 US farm bill debate underway, policy makers will be making decisions about the future direction of farm conservation efforts. This paper examines the business, operator, and household characteristics of farms that have chosen to adopt conservation-compatible practices, with and without financial assistance from conservation programs. It sheds light on the relationship between adoption of conservation-compatible practices and conservation behavior, and how this relationship varies between farm business, operator, and household characteristics. Findings indicate that farm operator and household attributes, and farm business characteristics, affect the likelihood that a farmer adopts certain kinds of conservation-compatible practices.