Additonality in U. S. Agricultural Conservation and Regulatory Offset Programs
Author: Roger Claasen
Publisher:
Published: 2014-08-28
Total Pages: 81
ISBN-13: 9781457856594
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe Federal Government spent more than $6 billion in FY 2013 on voluntary conservation payment programs to encourage the adoption of a wide range of conservation practices that address multiple environmental and resource conservation goals. Conservation payments can also come from private industry, particularly in the context of an agricultural offset market established as part of a cap-and-trade system designed to reduce nutrient or greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Payments help improve environmental quality only if farmers and ranchers who receive them adopt conservation practices that would not have been adopted without the payment. When a voluntary payment causes a change in practice(s) that leads to improved environmental quality, these changes are "additional." For any type of voluntary payment, there is some risk that the farmers or ranchers who receive them would have adopted the required practice(s), even without the payment. This study measures additionality for a number of common conservation practices typically supported by voluntary conservation payments and examines ways to increase additionality. Figures and tables. This is a print on demand report.