Enduring Impacts of Land Retirement Policies: Evidence from the Conservation Reserve Program

ABSTRACT. We examine the persistence of cropland retirements induced by the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), the largest U.S. conser-vation program. We analyze micro data on observed land-use choices following CRP contract expiration over 1995–1997 and predict that 42 % of CRP acres would not have been returned to crops within a year if the program had expired in 1997. These results indicate that temporary cropland retirement pay-ments under CRP generate land-use changes that often extend beyond contract periods. The analysis suggests that targeted signing bonuses for first-time enrollees would increase the longer-term impacts of CRP and perhaps other incentive-based land-use programs. (JEL Q24) I