Conserving Data in the Conservation Reserve Program
Landscape Ecology ISSN 0921-2973 Volume 26 Number 3 Landscape Ecol (2010) 26:449-450 DOI 10.1007/ s10980-010-9552-4
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Author's personal copy Landscape Ecol (2011) 26:449–450 DOI 10.1007/s10980-010-9552-4
BOOK REVIEW
Conserving Data in the Conservation Reserve Program J. T. Hamilton: Conserving data in the Conservation Reserve Program: how a regulatory program runs on imperfect information, RFF Press, Washington, D.C., USA, 2010, 168 pp., 23.4 cm, Cloth, ISBN 978-1-933-11582-5, US $75.00; Paper, ISBN 978-1-933-11581-8, US $24.95 Les D. Murray
Received: 13 September 2010 / Accepted: 21 October 2010 / Published online: 4 November 2010 Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010
The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) is a policy administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that reimburses landowners for setting aside land previously used for agricultural production and planting it to perennial vegetation. Since its inception in the 1985 Food Security Act, CRP has reshaped the landscape in agricultural areas across the U.S. with more than 12.6 million ha currently enrolled in CRP (Farm Service Agency 2010). In Conserving Data in the Conservation Reserve, James Hamilton outlines how CRP originated and changed over time. Through his detailed description of the development of CRP and how decisions were made to select land for enrollment in the program, Hamilton demonstrates how legislation and policy are created with imperfect information. Although the book focuses on CRP, the author uses this as an example to demonstrate how information is used in developing policies. The book begins by describing how information is used throughout the policy cycle from the voters to the legislators to the agencies that implement the policies. He points out the importance of generating and sharing information that can be used to adapt policy to better meet its objectives. Through the remainder of the book he uses CRP as an example of
L. D. Murray (&) Division of Science and Engineering, Penn State—Abington, Abington, PA 19001, USA e-mail:
[email protected]
how imperfect and changing information have led to the formation of an environmental incentive program that has significantly changed the nature of landscapes in many areas of the U.S. Hamilton gives an overview of the birth of CRP in the 1985 Farm Bill, how CRP switched focus from removing land from agricultural production to producing environmental benefits, and the evolution of the Environmental Benefit Index (EBI) for selecting lands for enrollment in CRP. One of the key points stressed throughout the book is how the legislative structure of CRP allowed the Farm Service Agency, along with other agencies, to make changes to the EBI based on new information to better serve the spirit of CRP. The transparency of the EBI after the 1996 Farm Bill also helped to clarify the process of enrollment in CRP for land owners and agencies. Information generated from monitoring of the policy also led to changes to CRP and these examples show how policy adjustments can arise through different forms of monitoring. Hamilton describes examples of both ‘‘police’’ monitoring such as audits of agencies and ‘‘fire alarm’’ monitoring in which people or groups report suspected violations or inadequacies in the policy. Interestingly, some of the most beneficial information to inform CRP policy has become available because of the work of a third party group, the Environmental Working Group (EWG). The efforts of EWG helped to make information on CRP payments and parcels of land enrolled in CRP
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available to voters and other interested parties via the Freedom of Information Act. This information has been crucial in initiating changes to recent Farm Bills. Hamilton concludes the book by summarizing how CRP has changed since 1985 as new information has become available. He uses CRP as an example to demonstrate how a successful policy can develop from imperfect information and how additional information can lead to beneficial changes to the policy. The book ends with six lessons learned about the role of information in regulatory policy from the author’s analysis of CRP. These lessons could help a landscape ecologist better understand why any policy might be imperfect and the role information plays in development of the policy. CRP is a great example of how data are used to alter policy, but Hamilton fails to generalize the example of CRP to the role of information in other policies. The reader is left to make these generalizations until the final chapter when Hamilton summarizes the major conclusions of the book. At many points in the book it is difficult to avoid getting lost in the details of CRP and remember the goal of the book. Any ecologist working in an area of agricultural production or studying land-use patterns would
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benefit from Hamilton’s description of the progression of CRP. Conserving Data may provide landscape ecologists a better understanding of how the federal program affecting such a large amount of land came to be, why CRP is where it is, and how scientific and non-scientific information have helped changed the tools used to make those decisions. Landscape ecologists involved in policy development and implementation also would benefit from the lessons learned about information use in the development of the details of CRP. Other landscape ecologists could garner information on the regulatory process and the importance of information to guide these policies, but may not find the book directly pertinent to their research. In conclusion, Conserving Data provides landscape ecologists a description of the development of CRP and an example of how policies develop despite imperfect information.
References Farm Service Agency (2010) Conservation Reserve Program Monthly Summary-July 2010. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC. http://www.fsa.usda.gov/Internet/ FSA_File/july2010crpstat.pdf. Accessed Sept 2010
