| This paper explores the relationship between land ownership and participation in voluntary federal conservation programs. Specifically, I use 2007 and 2012 Agricultural Census data, in a county-year fixed effects approach, to study the relationship between land ownership and participation in the Conservation Reserve Program, the Wetlands Reserve Program, the Farmable Wetlands Program, and the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program. I attempt to identify the relationship between land ownership and the propensity to participate in federal conservation programs. This research contributes to existing literature by using new national scale data, and by incorporating previously unused control variables such as access to the Internet and receipt of other government payments. My results suggest that, at the county level, there is little evidence of a relationship between full land ownership and program participation. |
