An Accounting Tradeoff Between WRP and Government Payments

The Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) can provide farmers financial compensation in exchange for retiring marginal lands from standard agricultural practices. Often overlooked in the analysis is the cost to the government to implement these programs. This paper examines two issues: first do farmers benefit from WRP enrollment and second does the government say money with WRP enrollment. With WRP the government no longer has to pay yearly direct, counter-cyclical, LDP, or crop insurance payments. Results from three Mississippi counties show that for certain crops that have historically paid a lot in government payments, WRP can be cheaper for the government. For farmers, the decision likely depends upon other revenue sources that can take the place of lost crop production.