Conservation Measures and the Farm Bill

This fact sheet from the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) details the role of the U.S. Farm Bill in promoting on-farm conservation practices. It examines specific conservation tools—such as cover crops, no-till operations, and intercropping—and outlines the funding and objectives of the 2014 Farm Bill's Conservation Title (Title II), including its primary programs: EQIP, ACEP, CRP, and CSP.

• The Agricultural Act of 2014, or Farm Bill, authorized $489 billion in spending by the USDA through 2018. Of these outlays, 6 percent were allocated to conservation, while the majority (80 percent) funded nutrition programs.
• Cover crops provide environmental benefits by filtering pollutants to improve water quality, increasing soil porosity and water holding capacity, and scavenging unused fertilizer to reduce the need for synthetic fertilizers. However, farmers face challenges including the labor required for management, difficulty establishing the crops, and a lack of immediate return on investment.
• No-till and low-till operations reduce soil erosion and sequester carbon; in North America, the transition from conventional to conservation tillage can sequester between 0.05 to 1.3 tons of carbon per hectare annually. The United Nations Environment Programme estimates these operations in the United States have avoided 241 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions since the 1970s.
• Intercropping, which involves growing two or more crops in close proximity, can stabilize ecosystems and enhance biological processes. Despite these benefits, it is rare in the United States due to high management requirements and the risk of species competing for nutrients and water.
• Edge-of-field and land use practices help prevent nutrient runoff. Subsurface drainage bioreactors use woodchips to convert nitrates into dinitrogen gas, removing 15 to 60 percent of the nitrate load annually without taking land out of production. Buffer strips of permanent vegetation can remove 50 percent or more of pesticides and nutrients.
• The 2014 Farm Bill's Conservation Title (Title II) provided $57.6 billion for programs aimed at improving soil health, water quality, air quality, and wildlife habitat, supporting over 600,000 jobs.
• The USDA manages four primary conservation programs: EQIP provides payments for eligible conservation practices; ACEP uses easements to protect agricultural lands and wetlands; CRP provides rental payments to remove environmentally sensitive land from production; and CSP provides financial assistance for stewardship on active agricultural or forest land.

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} }