Farm Bill conservation programs are in high demand in the United States, with the number of applications in almost all major programs far exceeding the total funds available (See Table 1). For instance, the budget for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) (1) in the last couple of years has only been able to fund 26–60 percent of applicants applying to the program. Given the large number of applicants for conservation programs and the limited amount of funds available, allocating program funds to produce the greatest environmental outcome becomes important. While conservation programs attempt to allocate these funds in a cost-effective manner, this allocation process can be improved in the following ways:

?Using quantitative measures or estimates to assess the environmental outcomes associated with conservation program applications;

?Routinely applying cost-effectiveness criteria to rank applications; and

?Standardizing the mechanics of ranking conservation program applications at the national level.

This policy note is largely written in the context of EQIP because it has one of the largest budgets of the Farm Bill conservation programs. Our recommendations, however, apply to the funding of conservation practices in general. The first three sections of this Policy Note contain background information, while the remaining sections provide supporting information and conclusions for our recommendations.

Notes

1. EQIP provides fi nancial and technical assistance to farmers to install or  implement structural and management practices on their land, such as installing manure management facilities, establishing cover crops and fi lter strips, and undertaking conservation tillage practices.