Logit regression analyses of 1978 Resource Economic Survey data are performed to determine factors distinguishing farmland owners who invested in soil con— servation practices from owners who did not invest. In most areas studied, owners who operated their land or who used share leases on land rented out were more likely to have invested than owners who rented out all land using only cash leases. The need for policies to encourage greater investment is suggested by evidence of trends toward increase in the percentage of all farmland that is owned by nonoperators and in the percentage of rental land that is farmed under cash leases.