THE Food Security Act of 1985 represents a major shift in agricultural legislation in the United States. While T the emphasis on controlling various commodity supplies and concern about the financial plight of American farmers and ranchers remained paramount, the legislation placed more emphasis on conservation of soil and water resources. The act strongly suggests that Americans are concerned not only with supply control, future productivity, and farm income but also want to limit the negative impacts of agriculture on the environment. The American people were promised improvements in the quality of their environmental resources, such as water quality and wildlife habitat.
In fact, if farmers and ranchers want to continue to be protected and subsidized by commodity programs, they will have to desist from draining swamps and busting sod and will have to cornply with a soil and water conservation plan. In addition, the legislation authorized the establishment of the Conservation Reserve Program to remove 45 million acres of cropland from production to control supplies of food and fiber and protect soil and water resources.
However, a forthcoming evaluation of the impacts of the …
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