Getting More from the U.S. Farm Conservation Water Quality Budget

A World Resources Institute (WRI) analysis indicates that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) could increase the cost-effectiveness of its water quality improvement spending by seven to 12 times through the use of geographic and benefit-cost targeting.

• The USDA could achieve seven to 12 times more environmental benefits for the same conservation budget by combining geographic targeting with benefit-cost targeting. For nitrogen specifically, the current approach reduced 91 million pounds annually (2006-2011) at $3.65 per pound, whereas targeting models suggest 1.1 billion pounds could be reduced at $0.30 per pound.
• Of the average $5 billion spent annually by federal conservation programs, only approximately $335 million is dedicated to controlling soil erosion and fertilizer runoff. The remaining funds are used for other agricultural issues, including soil fertility, air quality, wildlife habitat, and water quantity.
• Several barriers prevent the USDA from implementing these cost-effective targeting models: technical gaps in identifying the most effective acres among 304 million acres of U.S. cropland; institutional challenges in convincing farmers to participate in voluntary programs; and political risks associated with shifting funds away from current stakeholders.
• If political barriers prevent changes to state funding allocation formulas, a 'second-best solution' of applying benefit-cost targeting within existing locations could still provide four to nine times the water quality benefits per dollar spent compared to the current method.
• WRI proposes four steps for the USDA and the conservation community to improve cost-effectiveness: quantifying environmental benefits (moving beyond reporting programmatic outputs), incorporating benefit-cost principles into planning and ranking tools, conducting pilot projects (including within the Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative), and updating state funding allocation formulas with better data.

APA

Perez, M. (2014). Getting More from the U.S. Farm Conservation Water Quality Budget. World Resources Institute. https://www.wri.org/insights/getting-more-us-farm-conservation-water-quality-budget

Chicago

Perez, Michelle. Getting More from the U.S. Farm Conservation Water Quality Budget. World Resources Institute, 2014. https://www.wri.org/insights/getting-more-us-farm-conservation-water-quality-budget.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Perez |first1=Michelle |title=Getting More from the U.S. Farm Conservation Water Quality Budget |publisher=World Resources Institute |date=10 June 2014 |url=https://www.wri.org/insights/getting-more-us-farm-conservation-water-quality-budget |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{perez2014getting, author = {Perez, Michelle}, title = {{Getting More from the U.S. Farm Conservation Water Quality Budget}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, year = {2014}, month = jun, url = {https://www.wri.org/insights/getting-more-us-farm-conservation-water-quality-budget}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }