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Findings from the USDA-sponsored Lake Erie Agricultural Systems for Environmental Quality Project

Evaluating Agricultural Nonpoint-Source Pollution Programs in Two Lake Erie Tributaries

Department of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics, The Ohio State University, 2120 Fyffe Rd., Columbus, OH 43210

* Corresponding author (forster.4{at}osu.edu)

Received for publication August 12, 2000. During the past three decades, numerous government programs have encouraged Lake Erie basin farmers to adopt practices that reduce water pollution. The first section of this paper summarizes these state and federal government agricultural pollution abatement programs in watersheds of two prominent Lake Erie tributaries, the Maumee River and Sandusky River. Expenditures are summarized for each program, total expenditures in each county are estimated, and cost effectiveness of program expenditures (i.e., cost per metric ton of soil saved) are analyzed. Farmers received nearly $143 million as incentive payments to implement agricultural nonpoint source pollution abatement programs in the Maumee and Sandusky River watersheds from 1987 to 1997. About 95% of these funds was from federal sources. On average, these payments totaled about $7000 per farm or about $30 per farm acre (annualized equivalent of $2 per acre) within the watersheds. Our analysis raises questions about how efficiently these incentive payments were allocated. The majority of Agricultural Conservation Program (ACP) funds appear to have been spent on less cost-effective practices. Also, geographic areas with relatively low (high) soil erosion rates received relatively large (small) funding.

Abbreviations: ACP, Agricultural Conservation Program • BMP, best management practice • CRP, Conservation Reserve Program

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