Extension and Outreach Publications
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These digital collections include fact sheets and publications from Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics faculty and graduate students published in an occasional series of fact sheets, supplemented by other outreach-oriented materials based upon issues of particular priority to Colorado and research interest of the faculty.
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Browsing Extension and Outreach Publications by Subject "2014 Farm Bill"
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Item Open Access The Agricultural Act of 2014: comparison of 2008 and 2014 conservation programs(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014-06) Seidl, Andrew F., author; Villar, Daniel, author; Colorado State University, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, publisherThe Agricultural Act of 2014, commonly known as the 2014 Farm Bill, was signed into law on February 2, 2014. It replaces the 2008 Farm Bill which expired in 2012. The bill represents a compromise between the Senate proposed Agricultural Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2013 and the Federal Agricultural Reform and Risk Management Act of 2013, which was proposed by the House of Representatives. Fiscal concerns played a large role in the debate over the final form of the 2014 Farm Bill. The 2014 Farm Bill contains twelve titles, down from fifteen in 2008. We focus on Title II: Conservation, which includes thirteen conservation programs. The Conservations Title's stated purpose is to ensure the provision of clean water, abundant and safe food, the protection of wildlife from excessive disruption, and a conservation of the agricultural way of life.Item Open Access The Agricultural Act of 2014: conservation easement programs, the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP)(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014-02) Villar, Daniel, author; Seidl, Andrew F., author; Colorado State University, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, publisherThe ACEP is a new program for 2014 that serves as a consolidation of the all previous major easement programs. Despite the amount of change the new Farm Bill brings to conservation easement programs, there should be minimal disturbance to participants of GRP, WRP and FPP. All land and funding previously allocated to the now retired programs is automatically transferred to the ACEP and all easements from the previous programs will be maintained. Despite this, total funding for ACEP is less than the sum of its predecessors (USDA ERS 2014; USDA OBPA 2014). The main purpose of the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program is to provide easements for the long-term restoration and protection of environmentally sensitive lands from being developed or converted to non-agricultural uses (USDA ERS 2014). The program focuses on conserving agricultural land as well as wetlands and their related benefits. These two functions are evaluated separately, maintaining some of the distinction implied by having separate programs (USDA OBPA 2014).Item Open Access The Agricultural Act of 2014: land retirement programs, the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP)(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014-06) Seidl, Andrew F., author; Villar, Daniel, author; Colorado State University, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, publisherThe Conservation Reserve Program is a voluntary land conservation program established in 1985. Its long term goal is to improve water quality, prevent soil erosion, and reduce loss of wildlife habitat through the removal of environmentally sensitive lands from agricultural production. Contracts through the Farm Service Administration (FSA) provide yearly rental payments to farmers who enroll in the program. The types of land sought out by CRP include "agricultural land prone to erosion, pasture or agricultural land that borders river or stream banks, or field magins" (USDA FSA, 2014). These contracts are ten to fifteen years in length and ensure improvements in environmental health and quality through the conversion of agricultural land back to natural or semi-natural vegetative cover. While under contract farmers are unable to respond to higher crop prices by replanting enrolled land, farmers who are not enrolled in the program benefit from the higher crop prices. In this way the CRP is both a land retirement program and supply control program (Hicks, 2008). Practices including riparian buffers, field windbreaks, filter strips, and wetland restoration encourage reduce run-off, provide wildlife habitat and help to preserve groundwater quality. Cost-shares are available to help pay for proposed conservation practices; these are made in addition to the annual rental payments. Overall, the program leads to an improvement in local environmental conditions while providing annual rental payments to farmers for providing these benefits.Item Open Access The Agricultural Act of 2014: regional partnership programs, the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP)(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014-06) Villar, Daniel, author; Seidl, Andrew F., author; Colorado State University, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, publisherThe RCPP helps producers and landowners install and maintain conservation activities on the regional or watershed scale through the coordination of partnership agreements, funding opportunities and easement programs. The program is administered through the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and targets projects that increase the restoration and sustainable use of soil, water, wildlife and other related natural resources (USDA NRCS 2014).Item Open Access The Agricultural Act of 2014: working lands programs, the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP)(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014-06) Seidl, Andrew F., author; Villar, Daniel, author; Colorado State University, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, publisherCSP functions by encouraging stewardship on agricultural lands, cropland, grassland, pastureland, rangeland and non-industrial private forest land by providing financial assistance to producers who meet program requirements (USDA ERS 2014). Five-year contracts offer annual payments for new and continuing conservation activities. Supplemental payments are also offered on five-year contracts for adopting resource conserving crop-rotation practices. Payments are earned based on conservation performance with higher performing conservation systems earning higher payments.Item Open Access The Agricultural Act of 2014: working lands programs, the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP)(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014-06) Seidl, Andrew F., author; Villar, Daniel, author; Colorado State University, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, publisherThe EQIP program is designed to help agricultural producers and non-industrial forestland owners meet environmental standards set by the Federal, State, Tribal and local governments by providing financial and technical assistance on select projects. Financial assistance is available for conservation practices that address natural resource issues including the improvement of soil, water, plant, animal, or air resources. Contracts that provide financial assistance may be up to ten years in length (USDA NRCS, 2014).