Conservation Measures and the Farm Bill

The 2014 Farm Bill allocated $57.6 billion to conservation programs, focusing on voluntary on-farm practices. Key tools include cover crops, no-till/low-till operations, and intercropping, which aim to reduce nutrient runoff and sequester carbon. The document details four primary USDA programs: EQIP, ACEP, CRP, and CSP, outlining their funding, objectives, and the specific environmental benefits they provide, such as carbon sequestration and the protection of wetlands and marginal lands.

• The 2014 Farm Bill authorized $489 billion in total spending through 2018, with 6 percent of those outlays dedicated to conservation.
• Cover crops improve water quality by filtering pollutants and enhance soil health by increasing water holding capacity and reducing the need for synthetic fertilizers, though adoption was only 1.7 percent of U.S. cropland in 2011.
• No-till operations in the United States have avoided the emission of 241 million metric tons of carbon dioxide since the 1970s, and converting to conservation tillage in North America can sequester between 0.05 to 1.3 tons of carbon per hectare annually.
• Edge-of-field practices such as subsurface drainage bioreactors can remove 15 to 60 percent of the annual nitrate load without taking land out of production, while buffer strips can remove 50 percent or more of nutrients and pesticides.
• The 2014 Farm Bill's Conservation Title (Title II) provided $57.6 billion for programs that support over 600,000 jobs and focus on water quality, soil health, wildlife habitat, and air quality.
• The four largest conservation programs under the Farm Bill are EQIP, which provides payments for eligible practices; ACEP, which uses easements to protect agricultural lands and wetlands; CRP, which pays farmers to remove environmentally sensitive acres from production; and CSP, which assists producers on active agricultural or forest land.
• The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) has seen increased competition for enrollment; in May 2016, the USDA accepted only 411,000 acres out of the 1.8 million acres offered during the general enrollment period.

APA

Environmental and Energy Study Institute (2017). Conservation Measures and the Farm Bill. https://www.eesi.org/files/FactSheet_Farm_Bill_Conservation_Measures_0317.pdf

Chicago

Environmental and Energy Study Institute. Conservation Measures and the Farm Bill. 2017. https://www.eesi.org/files/FactSheet_Farm_Bill_Conservation_Measures_0317.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Environmental and Energy Study Institute |title=Conservation Measures and the Farm Bill |date=March 2017 |url=https://www.eesi.org/files/FactSheet_Farm_Bill_Conservation_Measures_0317.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{environmentalandenergystudyinstitute2017conservation, author = {{Environmental and Energy Study Institute}}, title = {{Conservation Measures and the Farm Bill}}, institution = {Environmental and Energy Study Institute}, year = {2017}, month = mar, url = {https://www.eesi.org/files/FactSheet_Farm_Bill_Conservation_Measures_0317.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }