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"We wanted to examine ways to improve
the targeting of land retirement programs to achieve environmental
benefits at least cost, and we focused on the Conservation Reserve
Enhancement Program, a federal-state partnership program to retire
environmentally sensitive cropland in the Illinois River watershed,"
said Madhu Khanna, an associate professor of environmental economics
in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics.
Co-authoring the study were Rick
Farnsworth and Hayri Onal, both faculty members in the department,
and Wanhong Yang, a recent doctoral degree graduate.
Funding for the study came from the
Illinois Council on Food and Agricultural Research.
The CREP initiative seeks to retire
232,000 acres in the watershed for periods of 15 to 35 years or
permanently at a projected cost of $500 million. Landowners receive
yearly payments for enrolling eligible cropland in the program.
Payments vary according to the soil type in each enrolled parcel,
sign-up bonuses and other one-time payments for applying specific
conservation practices and protecting the land beyond the minimum 15
years.
Researchers focused on the lower
Sangamon River watershed. Its 129,000 acres includes 58 percent in
cropland. They evaluated the extent to which actual Conservation
Reserve Enhancement Program enrollments in the area are achieving
the sediment abatement goals. They also compared actual acres
enrolled, program costs and sediment abated to the least cost
results from a simulation model. The economic-hydrologic simulation
model uses detailed spatial data about actual cropland
characteristics and location in the region to identify the least
cost combination of cropland parcels that achieved the program's
sediment reduction goal at least cost. Payments to landowners
equaled or exceeded expected returns to grain production.
"The model indicated a parcel of land
should be retired if the value of the environmental benefits from
retiring it was greater than the foregone profits from using it for
cropping," Khanna said. "We should retire parcels that generate a
large amount of sediment that gets into the river, and that would
help to capture sediment before it enters the river and where the
foregone profits would be low.
"We found that about 6,600 acres in
this watershed had been successfully enrolled and would reduce
sedimentation by 24 percent but at a higher cost than could have
been achieved. It was costing about $1 million in terms of lost
profits, and the same sediment abatement goal could have been
achieved for about $600,000."
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The difference in actual and estimated
costs can be attributed largely to the substitution of relatively
flat, highly productive flood plain land with sloping, less
productive, less costly land adjacent to streams.
"Ninety-six percent of the reduction in
sediment loadings in the Illinois River basin could be achieved by
focusing more on the 65 percent of the land that is within 900 feet
of rivers, streams and waterways," said Khanna.
She believes that CREP can be made even
more successful by continually adapting the program as new
information becomes available. Three minor changes could
substantially decrease costs and possibly contribute to the
establishment of long stretches of continuous buffers along many of
the streams in the Illinois River watershed.
She suggests the following: "First, the
eligible zone should be restricted to a buffer area that is 300-900
feet wide and narrower than the typical flood plain along the main
tributaries of the Illinois River. Second, the eligibility
requirements should be modified to allow the enrollment of sloping,
less productive cropland adjacent to streams.
"The requirement for enrolling 85
percent of cropland from riparian areas and only 15 percent from
highly erodible areas adjacent to riparian areas works against the
enrollment of sloping land," she notes.
Finally,
Khanna recommends program payments tied more directly to
environmental benefits. Currently, the program's payments are tied
to each parcel's inherent agricultural productivity. Payments should
also be tied to the environmental benefits (e.g., sediment
reduction) each parcel generates. Under this scenario, sloping, less
productive cropland adjacent to streams would likely receive higher
payments than relatively flat, flood plain land that does not
contribute much to sediment loadings in the river. The decision by
landowners remains the same: Produce crops or provide an
environmental service, whichever is more profitable.
[University
of Illinois news release]
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There is an excellent set of materials
on the Farm.doc website for you to use in selecting products and
finding out about coverage options and cost. Go to:
http://www.farmdoc.uiuc.edu/
cropins/evaluator/index_2003_IL.asp.
Federal Crop Insurance should be viewed
as a tool to manage risk. It is especially important when we look at
the increasing frequency and amounts of cash rent in our area.
The next deadline is for farm program
sign-up at the FSA office, if you wish to prove yields. That
deadline is April 1. Essentially everyone will need to prove soybean
yields for the new program. If you haven't been in or made an
appointment, you should do so immediately since there is only a
limited amount of time left.
When you are considering options for
the farm program, check out the calculator on Farm.doc to assist
you. The URL is
http://www.farmdoc.uiuc.edu/
manage/FarmBill/decisiontool.html.
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Extension Week
The West Central Region has designated
April 7-12 as Extension Week. Logan County has had Extension since
February of 1918. It began with a farm adviser named Elmer Ebersol,
who sold memberships in the combined Extension and Farm Bureau
system that remained in place until the 1950s.
The 4-H program began about 1920, with
the first 4-H clubs focusing on specific projects of swine and corn.
In 1923 a push began for clubs based on home economics, and the push
was on to identify volunteer leaders.
Home economics was added to Extension a
few years later with the first "home advisor." Focuses were on
running a household and home food preservation.
Logan County added an aggressive
Community Resource Development program in the late 1970s. This
program was responsible for many of the communitywide surveys done
in the early '80s. These surveys even led to removal of Lincoln's
parking meters around the square and municipal parking lots.
Extension continues to evolve as needs
of residents change. Major thrusts have begun in horticultural
programming, family nutrition programs and non-traditional youth
programs.
Continuing
media releases throughout the next month will highlight some of
Extension's offerings.
[John
Fulton]
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"This is a new tool that many producers
are looking forward to using," Gray said. "It comes at time when
crop rotation has not performed very well as a pest management tool
in many parts of Illinois because of the development of a variant of
the western corn rootworm that lays eggs in soybeans. As a result,
we have seen a significant increase in insecticide use throughout
much of the east-central part of the state."
He notes that the problems from this
variant form of the rootworm have continued to spread into parts of
northeastern and western Illinois, as well as sections of Michigan,
Indiana and Ohio.
"This new technology comes at a time
when soil insecticide use is very high, so growers are
understandably interested in using the resistant hybrids," Gray
said. "Soil insecticides generally cost about $16 per acre. If this
technology can be priced competitively with soil insecticide
products, I suspect there will be a lot of interest."
Gray cautions, however, that a critical
concern is how European customers will react to this genetically
modified product.
"Growers must have a market for what
they grow," he said. "That is the primary concern out there right
now. We know that groups like the Farm Bureau have asked growers to
keep this issue in mind. Many grain processors are also very
concerned about this issue and will undoubtedly pass on those
concerns to local elevators. A lot of this still remains to be
sorted out."
He advises that before making their
planting decisions growers should contact their local elevators
about whether or not this new genetically modified corn will be
accepted.
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"It is important to understand that we
have a major European corn gluten market," Gray said. "This market
is especially important for many growers in the east-central part of
Illinois. There are likely to be at least some elevators that will
refuse to accept these transgenic hybrids. It could well turn out
that much of the acreage planted to this new technology this year
will be in the western Corn Belt, where most of the production is
used for livestock feed."
Gray emphasizes that growers who
purchase corn rootworm Yield Gard hybrids will be required to plant
at least a 20 percent refuge of non-transgenic corn.
"There are some significant differences
from the 20 percent refuge used with Bt corn for European corn
borers," he said. "One of the most significant differences is that
the refuge must be placed within the field of transgenic rootworm
hybrids or directly adjacent to the field."
He points out that these tightened
rules are needed because of the considerable differences in the
mating behaviors of corn rootworms and European corn borers.
"Growers
will be required to sign an agreement through the distributor when
purchasing transgenic rootworm hybrids," Gray said. "If growers
violate those rules, we could easily lose the advantages from this
important new technology."
[University
of Illinois news release]
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