Resource Library

The Congressional Research Service’s “Conservation Provisions in the 2014 Farm Bill.” Megan Stubbs, 2014. This report gives a detailed overview of conservation programs of the 2014 Farm Bill, going section-by-section through the legislation.
http://nationalaglawcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/assets/crs/R43504.pdf

The Congressional Research Service’s “Conservation Compliance and U.S. Farm Policy.” Megan Stubbs, 2016. The farm bill makes eligibility for many of its programs contingent on compliance with conservation requirements. This report discusses that practice in detail.
http://nationalaglawcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/assets/crs/R42459.pdf

Choices Magazine’s “Conservation, the Farm Bill, and U.S. Agri-Environmental Policy.” Erik Lichtenberg, 2014. This article offers a detailed economic analysis of different policy instruments in the conservation title of the farm bill.
http://www.choicesmagazine.org/choices-magazine/theme-articles/3rd-quarter-2014/conservation-the-farm-bill-and-us-agri-environmental-policy

National Young Farmers Union’s “Conservation Generation: How Young Farmers and Ranchers are Essential to Tackling Water Scarcity in the Arid West.” This report discusses how young farmers are more likely to use cutting-edge, sustainable farming practices and thus argues that there is an intersection between bringing young farmers into agriculture and making farming more sustainable.
http://www.youngfarmers.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/NYFC15_water-report_Feb3_low.pdf

Texas Environmental Law Journal’s “Come Hell or No Water: The Need to Reform the Farm Bill’s Water Conservation Subsidies.” Danielle Wolfson, 2015. This article argues that conservation subsidies can encourage more water use and thus need to be reformed based on more successful models.
http://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/txenvlw45&div=15&g_sent=1&collection=journals