Agricultural Conservation

The Agriculture Department (USDA) administers 17 programs that provide financial incentives to farmers and ranchers who use conservation measures. Under 10 of the programs, USDA helps defray the cost of implementing conservation practices through direct payments or low-cost loans. Under the other seven programs, USDA purchases easements or rents land in order to retire it from agricultural production. The incentive-based conservation programs are intended to encourage voluntary efforts to reduce soil erosion, lessen water pollution, enhance fish and wildlife habitat, and address other conservation concerns. This report provides information on these incentive-based programs since fiscal year 1992, including information on their budget and level of activity and on the primary purpose of the conservation measures taken under the programs. GAO also identifies potential options for consolidating these programs.

GAO found that: (1) between fiscal years 1992 and 1995, Congress appropriated $8.6 billion for USDA incentive-based conservation programs; (2) these programs supported conservation measures on about 71 million agricultural acres under about 565,000 agreements with land users; (3) while most conservation programs have multiple purposes, soil erosion control was the primary purpose for spending 90 percent of the programs' funds and implementing conservation measures on about 80 percent of the agricultural acres in the programs; (4) cost-share programs were found to have more diverse purposes than land retirement programs; (5) options for consolidating incentive-based programs and increasing agricultural land users' access to financial assistance include combining application procedures into one form, merging programs with similar incentives, and consolidating all programs under a state block-grant program; and (6) USDA is considering these options under ongoing government reinvention efforts and in anticipation of impending legislation.