Factors Affecting Participation in Conservation Programs: The Case of Southeastern Cotton Farmers

One of the most significant changes in the new conservation title is in the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), which provides technical and financial assistance for eligible farmers and ranchers to address soil, water and related natural resource concerns on their lands. The Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) and the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) also could prove valuable to farmers. Those who have unproductive wet areas can get paid for easements for part or all of the cost of restoring historic wetlands and providing high quality waterfowl habitat under WRP and CRP.  Finally, the Conservation Security Program (CSP) is aimed at maintaining existing and encouraging new stewardship practices on cropland, pastureland, rangeland and incidental forestland. The three-tiered program will provide cost-share and bonus payments to farmers who have historically practiced good stewardship on their working land. CSP provides incentives to growers who want to increase their conservation practices. In a speech National Cotton Council Chairman Kenneth Hood argued that “conservation should receive a stronger focus among cotton producers for no other reason than the fact that the new farm law provides assistance for producers who have been practicing resource stewardship all along.”  Hence, the objective of this study is to investigate the factors affecting participation in conservation programs (EQIP, CRP, WRP, CSP), by Southeastern cotton farmers. This study primarily utilizes data obtained from the 2009, 2008, and 2007 Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS), developed by the Economic Research Service (ERS) and the National Agricultural Statistical Service (NASS). The 2008 ARMS queried farmers on all types of financial, production, and household activities. The data also provides information on farm type, regional location of the farm, and payments received by farmers under various conservation programs (such as EQIP, CRP, WRP, and CSP).