Publications
Water Quality Targeting
Providing guidance on how to better target agricultural conservation in the United States, to cost-effectively achieve measurable improvements in water quality.
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Water Quality Targeting Success Stories
How to Achieve Measurably Cleaner Water Through U.S. Farm Conservation Watershed Projects
by Michelle Perez - May 2017 -
Improving Water Quality (3 of 3)
Overcoming Barriers to Better Targeting of U.S. Farm Conservation Funds
by Sara Walker and Michelle Perez - June 2014The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) provides over $5 billion annually in financial and technical assistance to agricultural producers to implement conservation practices that address resource concerns (e.g., water quality, wildlife ha
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Improving Water Quality (2 of 3)
A National Modeling Analysis on Increasing Cost Effectiveness Through Better Targeting of U.S. Farm Conservation Funds
by Michelle Perez, Katie Reytar, Mindy Selman and Sara Walker - June 2014 -
Improving Water Quality (1 of 3)
A Review of the Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative (MRBI) To Target U.S. Farm Conservation Funds
by Michelle Perez and Sara Walker - January 2014Historically, federal conservation programs have focused on solving environmental and natural resource problems on individual farms.
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Paying for Environmental Performance: Potential Cost Savings Using a Reverse Auction in Program Signup
by Mindy Selman, Jenny Guiling, Suzie Greenhaigh and Michael Taylor - July 2008A reverse auction in the Conestoga watershed in Pennsylvania demonstrated that auctions are a more cost-effective way to allocate conservation funding than the traditional funding allocation process used in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s
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Paying for Environmental Performance: Estimating the Environmental Outcomes of Agricultural Best Management Practices
by Jenny Guiling and Jonathan St. John - May 2007This Policy Note outlines how the environmental performance of agricultural BMPs can be estimated, and what steps are necessary for improving these estimations--both important elements for effectively allocating conservation funding. This Policy Note sets forth the following recommendations:
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Agriculture and Climate Change
Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Opportunities and the 2007 Farm Bill
by Evan Branosky and Suzie Greenhalgh - March 2007This policy note addresses the following questions:
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Paying For Environmental Performance: Using Reverse Auctions to Allocate Funding For Conservation
by Mindy Selman, Jenny Guiling, Jonathan St. John and Suzie Greenhalgh - January 2007Can reverse auctions be used to achieve cost-effective improvements in environmental quality?
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Agriculture and Climate Change: The Policy Context
by Evan Branosky - October 2006Agriculture and Climate Change: The Policy Context is the first in a series of two Farm Bill Policy Notes that look at opportunities and reasons for the U.S. agriculture industry to participate in climate policy discussions. This note analyzes the impact of climate change on U.S.
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Conservation Best Management Practices, Cost-share and Water Quality Trading Programs
by Mindy Selman, Suzie Greenhalgh and Michael Taylor - July 2006This Policy Note outlines economic and "fairness" reasons why supporting the sale of the cost-share portion of agricultural nutrient and sediment reductions is not the most appropriate policy for the USDA and other government agencies to adopt.
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Growing Green
Enhancing Environmental and Economic Performance in U.S. Agriculture
by Paul Faeth - April 1995Although the notion of sustainable agriculture is attracting considerable interest, little information has been available for evaluating current levels of agricultral sustainability in the United States or the policy options that will best promote it.