Source: USDA'S ECONOMIC RESEARCH SERVICE, 5/6/14
 

Highlights:
•      The Agricultural Act of 2014 continues a strong overall commitment to conservation, with an emphasis on working land conservation.
•      Many conservation programs are consolidated into new programs or merged into existing programs, reducing the number of USDA conservation programs from 23 to 13. 
•      Crop insurance premium subsidies are re-linked to Conservation Compliance (conservation of highly erodible land and wetlands) for the first time since 1996. 

The Agricultural Act of 2014, also known as the 2014 Farm Act or Farm Bill, continues a strong overall commitment to conservation. However, unlike the previous two Farm Acts passed by Congress in 2002 and 2008, the 2014 Farm Act does not include an increase in overall funding for conservation programs. Between 2014 and 2018, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates mandatory conservation spending of $28 billion, about $200 million less than CBO’s projection of 2014-18 spending if the programs and provisions of the 2008 Farm Act had been extended. Although most conservation programs receive “mandatory” funding (funding that is required by law and does not require an annual appropriation), the funding levels are not guaranteed and could be revised in future years.

The 2014 Farm Act reduces the number of conservation programs from 23 to 13. Many smaller, more specialized programs were combined to form new programs, folded into existing programs, or simply repealed. Consolidation may create opportunities for better coordination of conservation efforts across the broad range of activities that USDA conservation programs seek to support. Savings in program administration and streamlined application processes may also be realized.

After program consolidations, 97 percent of conservation funding mandated in the 2014 Farm Act will go to the five largest programs: the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP), and Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP). Conservation Technical Assistance (CTA) is the only large conservation program that is funded through annual appropriations. For 2008-2013, average CTA funding was $737 million per year. Within the five largest programs, the 2014 Farm Act continues the trend of recent Farm Acts toward increasing the share of conservation funding devoted to working land programs (programs that support conservation on land in agricultural production) while reducing the share of funding for land retirement. However, in a departure from recent trends, funding for conservation easements, particularly wetland easement, will decline.

The new Farm Act also helps maintain strong incentives for soil conservation on highly erodible land and wetland conservation by adding crop insurance premium subsidies to the list of benefits that could be withheld from producers who fail to meet conservation compliance requirements. The 2014 Farm Act also creates a new “Sodsaver” provision (crop production on native sod) to help protect grasslands in the Northern Plains by sharply reducing crop insurance subsidies and other limitations on crop insurance (lower transitional yields, for example) during the first 4 years of crop production.

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