ABSTRACT
Agricultural policy analysts and observers in Washington are struck by the rapid and relatively unencumbered emergence of major resource management initiatives in the last year or so. Legislative ground, once thought to be reinforced in concrete, has been broken; the Secretary of Agriculture regularly affirms his strong commitment to a sizable conservation reserve and supports adoption of such a program in the 1985 farm bill; and virtually the entire delegation of congressional leaders from both parties in the House and Senate committees on agriculture has endorsed major new initiatives to link conservation and commodity programs more effectively.
