The supply of land for conservation uses: evidence from the conservation reserve program

From 1987 to 1990, the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) operated similarly to a competitive market for conservation lands. Using CRP data on counties from this period, we estimate supply functions for conservation lands for nine US regions. The results allow regions to be grouped according to low (Mountain, North Plains), moderate (Cornbelt, Lake States, South Plains), and high (Appalachian, Delta States, Northeast. Southeast) costs based on acreage enrolled. In addition, they identify farmers' perceived opportunity costs of enrolling cropland in a conservation program. The results provide potentially useful information to CRP administrators following the recent reauthorization of the program and also yield insights into the costs of other land conservation efforts. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.