Green payments and the US Farm Bill: information and policy challenges

Agriculture in the United States is heavily influenced by the Farm Bill and has considerable negative impacts on ecosystem functioning. Could the Farm Bill be redesigned to fund "green" payments that would encourage producers to provide beneficial ecological services? Such a change would be a complex undertaking, involving missing or uncertain information, heterogeneous systems, and challenging political and budgetary realities. Much of the information necessary for Farm Bill redesign is available, but is not being used; however, there remain critical gaps in our understanding of how to structure science-based, producer-relevant policy. One way to fill these information gaps is to fund cooperative pilot projects, based on environmental units of interest, such as watersheds. Nevertheless, political and budgetary constraints may mean that such information is more likely to inform policy and activities outside of the Farm Bill.