Why eligible landowners did not participate in the first four sign-ups of the Conservation Reserve Program

Telephone interviews were conducted in four diverse midwestern survey sites to learn why eligible farmland owners had not participated in the Conservation Reserve Program through its fourth sign-up in February 1987. Among the findings were that sizable percentages of the nonparticipating owners wrongly perceived themselves to be ineligible; did not know the prevailing CRP per-acre rent, the program's basic incentive; and were unaware of a special bonus for the enrollment of corn-base land. While these findings point to the need for better outreach, the survey results indicate also that substantial increases in participation would have been likely if the U.S. Department of Agriculture had adopted a package of relatively modest improvements in incentives: an extra $10 per acre in rents, payment in cash rather than commodity certificates, and the right to graze or hay enrolled land.