As U.S. farmers strive to balance productivity with sustainability, a long-standing question remains: Can agricultural conservation programs boost yields as well as protect the environment? 

A recent paper published by Wei Zhang, assistant professor, Yanggu Li, recent Ph.D. graduate, and John Bovay, associate professor, in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics at Virginia Tech, takes a data-driven look at this issue, examining more than a decade of county-level crop yields and conservation funding across thousands of U.S. counties. By linking Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) payments and Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) enrollments to changes in corn, soybean, and wheat production, the researchers uncover an encouraging picture, one where environmental stewardship and agricultural productivity can work hand in hand.

To find out, the researchers analyzed county-level yield data on corn, soybeans, and winter wheat from 2005 to 2015. They matched these yields with USDA records on EQIP payments and CRP enrollments during the same period.

Because conservation practices take time to show results, the team didn’t just look at current-year payments. They studied the “lagged” effects, how payments made one to five years earlier affect yields today. 

“Our approach allowed us to ask a simple question: when farmers receive more funding to support conservation practices, do average crop yields rise or fall?” Zhang said.

The authors estimate that for a typical county, with 40,000 acres of corn selling at $5 a bushel, a 10 percent increase in EQIP payments over the previous five years leads to $17,000 in extra annual revenue. They also find that CRP leads to a rise in soybean yields, and do not find evidence that EQIP lowered yields for any of the crops studied. 

“The takeaway is clear,” Bovay said. “Conservation and productivity can go hand in hand.”

Farmers who participate in EQIP or CRP aren’t just protecting soil and water. They may also be setting themselves up for more resilient, productive farmland in the long run. Practices contributing to improved soil quality, better water retention, and reduced erosion don’t just help the environment, but can also help crops thrive.

In an era when farmers face many challenges, this study offers the hopeful message that protecting the environment doesn’t have to mean lowering productivity. Programs like EQIP and CRP can help farmers do both.

The paper was published in Choices by the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association.

Original study: DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.369396

By: Melissa Vidmar