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Abstract
Excerpts from the report Highlights: Approximately 83,000 farm operators put a total of 6.5 million acres of cropland in the conservation reserve part of the Soil Bank Program in 1957. They made agreements to reduce the acreages of cropland harvested on their farms by the acreages put in the conservation reserve for 3, 5, or 10 years and to establish permanent cover where it is needed to protect and conserve the land. Farm operators receive annual rental payments that average about $9 per acre and practice payments that cover up to 80 percent of the cost of establishing protective cover on cropland placed in the program. Most contracts are for 5 years. However, 10-year contracts call for planting of trees on nearly 500,000 acres. Farm surveys were made in selected areas of six States during the summer of 1957 to learn what effects the Conservation Reserve Program, is having on farming. Altogether, more than 1,000 farm operators were interviewed. Half of them, were participating in the Conservation Reserve Program. The study areas are representative of widely differing types of farming situations.