End of direct federal payments to farmers could mean more soil erosion

"There's a chance that the $5 billion in fixed, annual direct payments to growers will be slashed or replaced altogether" by Congress, Philip Brasher reports on his Food Watch blog. This has conservationists worried , because farmers who take direct payments must adhere to certain restrictions to prevent erosion and other environmental problems.

Take away those subsidies or make them unappealing to farmers, and high commodity prices may encourage farming on highly erodible cropland with little environmental concern, Brasher writes. "The end of direct payments would have a significant impact, a negative impact, on the compliance incentive," USDA economist Roger Classen told the Soil and Water Conservation Society earlier this week.

Congress could require farmers who buy federally subsidized crop insurance to comply with conservation restrictions, but the farmers who are most dependent on crop insurance live in more arid places like the Dakotas and farmers with little need for crop insurance live in high-erosion areas like Iowa, Brasher reports.