{
  "id": "RL32624",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "RL32624",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com, University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 310098,
      "date": "2005-11-22",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-07T19:26:44.808029",
      "title": "Green Payments in U.S. and European Union Agricultural Policy",
      "summary": "Green payments are generally defined as payments made to agricultural producers as\ncompensation\nfor environmental benefits that accrue at levels beyond what producers might otherwise achieve\nunder existing market and regulatory conditions. They may support both environmental and farm\nincome objectives.\n Modern U.S. agri-environmental programs began in 1985 by paying farmers to retire land and\nlimiting conversion of wetlands and highly erodible land to cultivation, thereby reducing negative\nenvironmental effects associated with production agriculture. These initial programs focused on a\nsingle agricultural benefit, limiting erosion. Since then, these programs have proliferated in number\nand overall funding, and now pay farmers to provide additional conservation benefits either while\nmaintaining agricultural production on working lands, or by retiring land from production. These\nenvironmental benefits include stemming wetland loss and wildlife habitat deterioration, protecting\nfarmland from conversion to other uses, and improving water and air quality. The Conservation\nSecurity Program (CSP), enacted in the 2002 farm bill ( P.L. 107-171 ) is the most recent step in the\nevolution of U.S. agri-environmental policy. CSP pays producers to capture environmental benefits\nacross their entire agricultural operation, while producing commodities. It has been characterized\nby some as the most comprehensive U.S. \"green payments\" program. \n General environmental policy in the European Union (EU) deals with negative externalities\nfrom water pollution, nitrates, and pesticides, among other issues, and also affects agricultural\nproduction. EU farm policy since 1985, however, has included payments to farmers to compensate\nfor costs incurred or income forgone from undertaking agri-environmental measures that meet farm\npolicy and rural development objectives. Such measures include,  inter alia , reducing\nuse of fertilizer\nand chemical inputs, adopting organic production methods, maintaining countryside and landscape,\nor managing land for leisure activities or public access. Successive reforms of the EU's Common\nAgricultural Policy (CAP) have placed greater emphasis on such green payments -- and increased\nfunding for them -- as agri-environmental measures have been integrated into a broad rural\ndevelopment policy.\n Congressional interest in green payments today is driven by pressure from international trade\nnegotiations and the anticipated development of the next farm bill, which will likely contain the U.S.\npolicy responses to the results of these negotiations. These negotiations create considerable\nuncertainty over future farm program options, and green payments, in some fashion, are widely\nviewed as an option that could be designed so as to satisfy both international obligations and\ndomestic agriculture constituencies. Differences between the United States and the EU in how green\npayments have been defined and translated into policy and programs may make consideration of EU\nagri-environmental policy as a model or source of ideas problematic. This report, which compares\ncurrent U.S. and EU efforts in the area of green payments, will be updated.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": false,
      "formats": [
        {
          "format": "HTML",
          "encoding": "utf-8",
          "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/RL32624",
          "sha1": "635f83394085946e5e262a18678b5c76eeb2de8d",
          "filename": "files/20051122_RL32624_635f83394085946e5e262a18678b5c76eeb2de8d.html",
          "images": null
        },
        {
          "format": "PDF",
          "encoding": null,
          "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/RL32624",
          "sha1": "69256e0b66f25e9c1c848b7492dfd7203bc33268",
          "filename": "files/20051122_RL32624_69256e0b66f25e9c1c848b7492dfd7203bc33268.pdf",
          "images": null
        }
      ],
      "topics": []
    },
    {
      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc807046/",
      "id": "RL32624_2004Oct06",
      "date": "2004-10-06",
      "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26",
      "title": "Green Payments in U.S. and European Union Agricultural Policy",
      "summary": null,
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORT",
      "active": false,
      "formats": [
        {
          "format": "PDF",
          "filename": "files/20041006_RL32624_bff707eec2f3ce44fd9a2691c5adadaa8bf21c24.pdf"
        },
        {
          "format": "HTML",
          "filename": "files/20041006_RL32624_bff707eec2f3ce44fd9a2691c5adadaa8bf21c24.html"
        }
      ],
      "topics": []
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Agricultural Policy",
    "Environmental Policy"
  ]
}