Abstract
Within the conservation and production objectives that form the current Farm Bill, there are a range of options that encourage uniquely tailored farm plans for each farm and landowner (LO) situation. In this attempt to predict use of one option, the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), three broad sets of farm structure variables were employed. These were farming scale, planning horizon, and farm specialization. A two-stage systematic sample of 437 farm parcels from county ASCS lists resulted in 187 land owner interviews for discriminant analysis. Participation in CRP was most discriminated by two farm size variables--crop acres and gross farm income. Among CRP participants, prediction of forestry versus permanent pasture options was dominated by planning horizon variables. Among non-users, lack of information was most discriminated by LOs specializing in nonruminant animal production, and farms located in the most urbanized county (Montgomery). However, the poorly informed were negatively discriminated by crop and soybean acres. While the discriminating variables were different in each analysis, about 80 percent of the cases were correctly classified in each of the three dimensions of CRP participation by the discriminant function based on the seven independent variables.
Recommended Citation
Kairumba, Joseph, and Gerald Wheelock. 1990. "Farm Structure and Use of the Conservation Reserve Program of the 1985 Farm Bill." Journal of Rural Social Sciences, 07(1): Article 8. Available at: https://egrove.olemiss.edu/jrss/vol07/iss1/8
Publication Date
12-31-1990
