ABSTRACT
The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) was authorized by the 1985 Food Security Act and was passed at a time of heightened concern for environmental quality. Its main objective is to take highly erodible land out of production, thereby reducing wind and water erosion, protecting long-term food-producing capability, reducing sedimentation, improving water quality, creating wildlife habitat, curbing excess production, and providing income support for farmers. The analysis reported was undertaken to estimate the short-run economic impacts of the CRP program in North Dakota. Initially compiled on a county-by-county basis, the resulting estimates fall into three main categories: reduced input expenditures, reduced federal commodity payments, and increased CRP contract payments and upkeep costs. The direct effects were applied to the input-output model to estimate the total impact of the CRP program. Such impacts should be addressed in future analyses, however, and input-output analysis would be a very appropriate tool for quantifying some of these effects.
