The Effect of the Conservation Reserve Program on Land Values

2009/12/31 by Junjie Wu, JunJie Wu, Haixia Lin
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Environmental Science · #Agricultural Economics and Policy #Economic and Environmental Valuation #Forest Management and Policy

paper · doi:10.3368/le.86.1.1

crossref issued 2009/12/31 · crossref published 2009/12/31 · crossref published-online 2009/12/31 · openalex publication_date 2009/12/31 · crossref published-print 2010/02/01 · crossref created 2015/08/06 · crossref deposited 2024/08/22 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/11 · crossref indexed 2026/07/30

Abstract

This paper evaluates the effects of the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) on land values. A theoretical model is presented to analyze the interaction between farmers' CRP participation decisions and land values. Empirical models are estimated to evaluate the effects of the CRP on land values. Results suggest that CRP participation had the largest effects in the Mountain, Southern Plains, and Northern Plains regions, where it increased average farmland values by 5% to 14%, 4% to 6%, and 2% to 5%, respectively. The CRP also had a statistically significant effect on developed land values, but the percentage increases were smaller. Implications of the results for the design of conservation programs are discussed.

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