ABSTRACT
A major environmental issue in agriculture is the decline in surface and groundwater quality. Soil erosion costs the United States between $5 billion and $18 billion in surface water quality related dam ages annually, with soil erosion from agricultural production accou ntin g for over 50% of these costs (Ribaudo). The Conservation Reserve Program (C R P), a subtitle of the Conservation Title (Title 12) of the Food Security A ct of 1985 , is a land retirem ent scheme designed to address this issue. Of the goals of the C RP-controlling supply, transferring income to farmers, reducing soil erosion, and reducing agriculturally related nonpoint pollution problems-the major objective is reducing soil erosion (Reichelderfer).
