NRI-CEAP (Conservation Effects Assessment Project)

The 2002 Farm Bill authorized continued funding for many conservation programs and substantially increased funding levels for selected programs. CEAP has been designed and implemented to determine the environmental effects and benefits of selected conservation programs over the life of the 2002 Farm Bill. There are two components to the project. The first is a National Assessment which will provide estimates of conservation benefits at the national level for annual reporting. The second component is the Watershed Assessment studies which will provide more detailed, watershed based, assessments of environmental effects and benefits than is possible at the national scale, provide a framework for evaluating and improving the performance of the National Assessment techniques and provide for additional research on conservation practices and their expected impacts at the watershed scale.

The National Assessment utilizes NRI in two ways. First, the NRI sampling framework of sample segments (formerly called Primary Sample Units) and segment (PSU) points are used to select onsite locations for collecting field level management activities through farm surveys. Use of the NRI sampling frame captures the diversity of the Nation’s agricultural base. Second, the NRI historical data tied to the selected sample points, together with the survey data, are incorporated into field-level physical process models (EPIC and APEX) to estimate conservation benefits.

The farm surveys are based on personal interviews with farmers conducted by National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) enumerators in the fall of each year through 2007. Approximately 400 interviews will be conducted annually in Missouri and 10,000 nationwide. Concurrent with farmer interviews, NASS enumerators visit NRCS field offices to confirm field locations and collect supporting case file information. The Farm Services Agency provides land ownership and operator identification information to NASS.

A number of people need to be recognized for their assistance in getting the CEAP project off the ground in 2003. We wish to thank all of the NRCS field office staff who assisted the NASS enumerators with the 2003 surveys and NASS’ Missouri state staff and field enumerators for organizing and conducting the farmer interviews. A special thank you is extended to Missouri farmers Mr. and Mrs. Bud Holiman, Mr. and Mrs. Ed Muri and Mr. and Mrs. Darell Spaedy for their willingness to test the draft survey and provide critical feedback. Their participation resulted in several important changes to the survey instrument and the data collection process that was implemented across the country. District Conservationists Bob Hagedorn, Allen Voss and Gary Van De Velde set up and observed the test interviews and provided a number of excellent suggestions for the survey questionnaire and field office participation. NRCS state office Field Technical Services staffers Odie Swanegan, Doug Wallace and Ron Miller participated in the test interview process, critiqued the survey questionnaire and passed along valuable insights to NASS about NRCS conservation programs and conservation practices applied in Missouri. FSA’s GIS Specialist, Rod Bealer, was responsible for automating, testing and overseeing the farm operator identification process used by the FSA county offices for all the survey sample points. A big thank you to Rod and all the county FSA staffs who helped out.

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