ASSESSING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE FOR SOIL CONSERVATION PRACTICES |
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| Authors: | J. Dixon Esseks Steven E. Kraft |
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| Affiliation: | J . DIXON ESSEKS is an Associate Professor in the Public Administration Division of the Department of Political Science, Northern Illinois University, and also a Research Associate of the Center for Governmental Studies at that university. Specializing in agricultural land policy, he has written on farmland protection and soil conservation issues. He has contributed to publications of the National Agricultural Lands Study, the Soil Conservation Society of America, and the American Farmland Trust.;STEVEN E. KRAFT is an Associate Professor in the Department of Agribusiness Economics at Southern Illinois University. He teaches farm management, land resources economics, and research methodology. He holds a Ph.D. from Cornell University. |
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| Abstract: | When making its case to Congress and other audiences the Conservation Technical Assistance program of USDAIS Soil Conservation Service, which is the federal government's most extensive and expensive soil conservation program, based its argument on data about its clients. Missing have been comparisons between clients and nonclients that address the issue of whether clients might not have exhibited just as good conservation behavior without the program. Using multiple regression analysis that relates the diversity of conservation practices used to farm operators' receipt lnonreceipt of technical assistance, and controlling for relevant other variables, this study found statistically and substantively significant program effects in each of six diverse survey sites. |
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