Conservation Reserve Program

Under the Conservation Reserve Program, the Agriculture Department will spend nearly $20 billion between fiscal years 1987 and 2003 to temporarily remove 36.5 million acres of cropland from production. GAO concludes that the program is an expensive way to reduce environmental problems, such as erosion, linked to agriculture production. Little is known about the dollar value of the environmental benefits purchased or about the extent to which removing the land from production will alleviate environmental problems. Furthermore, the program postpones rather than resolves these problems, and additional costs may be incurred to maintain the program's objectives when the contracts expire. Other Agriculture Department conservation initiatives use less costly strategies to achieve lasting environmental objectives; unlike the Conservation Reserve Program, however, these other programs are not intended to curb excess production, and they only indirectly support farmers' incomes.

GAO found that: (1) USDA has not quantified how the removal of land from agricultural production affects the environment; (2) CRP protection is temporary, since USDA can return land to production after 10 years; (3) CRP costs are higher than other conservation program costs, because USDA has increased the costs of CRP rental payments; (4) CRP has reduced erosion, decreased sedimentation in reservoirs and streams, protected natural resources, preserved the land's long-term productivity, and reduced production of surplus commodities receiving federal price and income support payments; (5) USDA needs to do more to address CRP objectives, such as enrolling the most erodible cropland and land contributing the most to water resources pollution; and (6) other USDA conservation initiatives cover more cropland acres, cost less than CRP, and achieve more sustainable environmental benefits by changing the land or farming practices to reduce soil erosion and improve water quality.