Involvement in conservation policies helps preserve farmland and brings additional income into Nebraskan communities. A conservation policy is a policy that works to preserve natural resources or ecosystems. 

Simanti Banerjee, associate professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said conservation policies help generate environmental benefits, contribute to maintaining farm survival, keep rural communities afloat, and contribute or maintain the economic vitality of the state of Nebraska.

Banerjee works to increase participation in farmland conservation policies by focusing on policies providing financial compensation to participants.

To do so, Banerjee researches different ways to provide information about environmental benefits and other’s choices to incentivize people to participate in policies. When a policy is implemented, the hope is for producers to include the conservation practice within their operation and reap the benefits. If a policy is not designed correctly, however, it could result in unhappy producers who refuse to participate.

Banerjee devotes her work to helping policymakers design programs that work for the Nebraska lifestyle.

Conservation Policies Provide Compensation

Banerjee said many farmland conservation policies involve financial compensation, which helps attract more participation in the policy.

“Financial compensation means the government will share the cost for any kind of practice that the producer would implement on their property or provide compensation for costs incurred for implementing the practice,” Banerjee said.

Producers see direct benefits from the financial compensation because it provides an additional income source outside of producing commodities. 

Banerjee said one example of participation conservation practice is planting strips of native prairie grasses onto intensively managed agricultural land. Doing so preserves the nutrients of their soil, while also increasing the populations of pollinators for the entire area and provides financial payment for involvement.

“Planting strips of native prairie grasses leads to improved pollinator habitat and lower soil erosion,” Banerjee said. “All benefits to natural resources.”

If producers implement this practice they can receive financial payment.

While producers can control what they do with their land, they cannot always control the volatile markets. Therefore, Banerjee said compensation policy conservation can serve as a safety net for producers by adding a source of income when they are not seeing profits due to low commodity prices.

“The payments from these policies can serve as a buffer that might prevent these farms from going out of business,” Banerjee said.

Conservation Policies Benefit Society

When participation increases in conservation policies, society and the future generation of agriculture producers benefit.

“The most significant benefit of the conservation programs is the public good,” Banerjee said. “For instance, communities can see improved water quality, higher pollinator biodiversity, and animal habitat.”

Increasing the participation in farmland conversation policies creates more social capital within rural communities. Specifically, neighbors in farming communities can work together to preserve the environment and heighten the quality of life for the area. 

“By increasing participation, communities see an increase of trust and social networks,” Banerjee said. “In the long run, it will lead to greater delivery of improved environmental benefits, or ecosystem services.”

The next generation of farmers rely on the resiliency of the family farm. Farmland conservation policies ensure that the land will be properly maintained to continue to supply the food system.

Plowing Through the Barriers

Even though there are strong benefits to conservation policies, Banerjee recognizes the barriers that keep farmers from participating. She specifically studies how the barriers influence the decision-making process for producers.

One critical barrier is the transaction costs associated with participation. For example, paperwork is one example of a cost that could influence a producer’s decision-making process simply due to the amount of time it takes to complete the application.

“Producers are busy people and we do not want them to be mired in paperwork,” Banerjee said. “Transaction costs matter.”

Banerjee notes the importance of the policy design and has worked with policymakers to make it workable for both sides.

“At the end of the day, if society needs a policy in place, we need to know how to effectively formulate and implement that policy to maximize benefits and minimize costs to society.,” Banerjee said.  “The regulator needs that answer, so that is what we are trying to do for Nebraska.”