Menu Search Account

LegiStorm

Get LegiStorm App Visit Product Demo Website
» Get LegiStorm App
» Get LegiStorm Pro Free Demo

Conservation Reserve Program: Cost-Effectiveness Is Uncertain

  Premium   Download PDF Now (18 pages)
Report Type Reports and Testimonies
Report Date March 26, 1993
Report No. RCED-93-132
Subject
Summary:

Under the Conservation Reserve Program, the Agriculture Department will spend nearly $20 billion between fiscal years 1987 and 2003 to temporarily remove 36.5 million acres of cropland from production. GAO concludes that the program is an expensive way to reduce environmental problems, such as erosion, linked to agriculture production. Little is known about the dollar value of the environmental benefits purchased or about the extent to which removing the land from production will alleviate environmental problems. Furthermore, the program postpones rather than resolves these problems, and additional costs may be incurred to maintain the program's objectives when the contracts expire. Other Agriculture Department conservation initiatives use less costly strategies to achieve lasting environmental objectives; unlike the Conservation Reserve Program, however, these other programs are not intended to curb excess production, and they only indirectly support farmers' incomes.

« Return to search Government Accountability Office reports