ERS Report Explores Conservation Practice Adoption by Farmland Renters

USDA Economic Research Service published Farmland Rental and Conservation Practice Adoption, a report that explores patterns across cropland owner-operators and cropland renters in the adoption of conservation tillage, cover cropping, and six permanent structural practices (riparian buffers, filter strips, field borders, terraces, grass waterways, and contour farming). Contrary to popular belief, this study found little evidence of systemic differences in conservation practice adoption on owner-operated fields compared to cash-rented fields. The report also examines how the institutional factors surrounding farmland rental markets challenge the notion that land renters are inclined to exploit long-term soil quality for short-term profits.