Economic Impacts of Climate‐Smart Agriculture and Forestry Practices: Evidence From the USDA Environmental Quality Incentives Program

Conservation on working agricultural lands is increasingly recognised as a critical strategy for enhancing the resilience of food systems in the face of climate change. Despite the growing funding worldwide for climate‐smart agriculture and forestry (CSAF) practices, we lack a comprehensive assessment of their economic impacts. Focusing on the impacts of CSAF practices on agricultural productivity and resilience in the United States, we estimate the effects of payments under the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) for CSAF on county‐level yields, land rent and measures of production losses for corn, soybean and winter wheat. We also account for the potential confounding effects of land retirement through the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). Our findings suggest that EQIP payments for CSAF practices are associated with reductions in county‐level corn production losses. In contrast, payments for non‐CSAF practices may increase loss measures. These findings highlight the importance of targeted conservation investments in improving agricultural resilience.