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Land Tenure, Conservation and Stewardship: Draft Research Summary

Economics and Economic Incentives

• Federal, state, and local programs provide financial incentives to landowners and tenants for land stewardship and ecosystem services, and engage producers early in their careers.
• Other economic calculations related to land conservation practices can be more complex as with the distribution of responsibilities and rewards between tenants and landowners.
• “Flexible incentives” approaches to private rental agreements can support the land stewardship goals and economics of both landowners and tenants.

Community norms, social influences, and owner/operator education and attitudes

• The more information farm and ranch operators have about land stewardship and conservation, the more likely they are to practice it.
• Education levels and attitudes of farmland owners and operators are positively correlated with agricultural conservation and stewardship practices.
• Absentee and other non-farming landowners receive little or no education or assistance regarding conservation and stewardship. Social ties can be important for environmental decision-making by local landlords, but play less important roles with absentee landlords.
• Sometimes tenants are more motivated toward conservation activities than their landlords; sometimes the reverse is true.
• Women landlords can find it challenging to obtain changes in conservation behavior of renters. They desire information on conservation, often to provide them with more influence in dealing with male tenants.
• Farmers’ and conservation organizations that provide both social support and practical land stewardship knowledge can significantly influence operators’ conservation practices. Professional farm management companies and other providers are important providers of education for landowners and operators regarding land conservation and stewardship.

Land tenure terms and tenancy relationships

• The relationship between land tenancy and agricultural stewardship is important because over 40 percent of the nation’s farmland is rented.
• The “tenancy hypothesis,” which linked tenants to agricultural resource degradation is being replaced by a more complex set of relationships between land tenure and conservation practices. There is nothing inherent in tenancy that results in inferior environmental stewardship. Problems arise largely depending on the nature of the rental agreement and landlord-tenant relationship.
• Short-term leases and the uncertainty associated with them tend to discourage environmentally related investments or practices on the part of tenants. Verbal lease agreements offer a mixed picture with regard to conservation practices.
• Certain lease models foster on-farm conservation: share rental agreements; longer term, written lease agreements with clear environmental stipulations and cost-share provisions; and lease-to-purchase agreements.

Government conservation programs

• Owner-operators, landlords and tenants can and do participate in government conservation programs.
• Local participation by operators and landowners in the governance of federal and state conservation programs can increase farmer participation in those programs.
• Opportunities exist to link farm conservation practices to beginning and exiting farmer programs at all levels of government. Several USDA conservation programs offer incentives for beginning farmers to adopt conservation practices.

Last modified July 15 2009 10:46 AM