The Farm Bill conservation programs are capped either in terms of total funds available or total acres that can be enrolled. This has significant consequences for budget baseline and scoring, or cost estimates, projected by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). This, in turn, has implications for program implementation and operation, as well as for the farmers seeking assistance with conservation efforts on their farms. CBO’s score of the Farm Bill reported by the House in May further highlighted this matter, presenting a tradeoff for conservation policy that is explored further herein (farmdoc daily, August 8, 2024).
