Making sure taxpayers are getting their money's worth from publicly funded conservation measures is the goal of the Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP). Most of the public funds for agricultural conservation come from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, through the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act, informally known as the "Farm Bill."

Congress enacts a farm bill every 5 years, and although the bill funded mostly crop-subsidy and other related commodity programs, legislators shifted emphasis in the 2002 bill by increasing conservation funding by 80 percent, compared to the 1996 bill.

That increase intensified demands to ensure that conservation funding is used effectively. USDA decided the time was right to undertake a cost-benefit analysis of the conservation practices funded over the past 50 years and report the results to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)--the federal budget overseer--Congress, farmers, ranchers, and environmental policymakers. CEAP is the result, with a goal of putting dollars and cents on the practices' farm and environmental benefits.

First CEAP is tackling cost-effectiveness of cropland practices aimed at improving soil and water quality, along with fish and wildlife habitat and wetlands. Later it will include air quality and more grazinglands.