FARM PRODUCTION DECISIONS UNDER CROSS AND CONSERVATION COMPLIANCE

The success of soil conservation compliance (CC) hinges on participation in commodity programs. Using mixed integer programming, the profitability of participation in commodity programs was examined on seventeen surveyed North Carolina farms. Without CC, cross compliance in commodity programs increased projected soil erosion by over 80% when participation increased from 30% to nearly 90%. With CC, erosion fell by two-thirds at the high participation level but decreased by only 1% with low participation. Individual farm acreage base and crop yield strongly affected the profitability of CC. Compliance is increasingly profitable on farms with more base acreage and higher yields.