Economic and water quality benefits of better land management strategies

What is it about?

It compares economic benefits (e.g. profits) and water quality benefits(e.g. reduction in nutrient loss to surface waters) of popular conservation practices (e.g. cover crop) versus converting row crops to perennial grasses/working forests. The results suggest that, for Lake Erie region where dissolved phosphorous is a major concern, converting some corn/soybean fields to other less fertilizer intensive land uses would be necessary to meet policy targets, and more cost-effective than subsiding mass conservation practices. A combination of both strategies would be even better, as farmers can install conservation practices on productive land, while convert some other corn/soybean fields to achieve higher nutrient loss reductions

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Why is it important?

Improving water quality in Lake Erie is urgent and important, but effectiveness and economic efficiency of different land management strategies need to compared and examined before committing to long term and often significant investments in conservation actions