Undergraduate Research: An Archive - 2021 Program

AGRICULTURE AND
FOOD SYSTEMS
Will Conte ’21
SCHOOL OF PUBLIC AND INTERNATIONAL
AFFAIRS
Certificate in Environmental Studies
THESIS TITLE
Reconceptualizing the
Farmer Tenure Contract
for a Greener Tomorrow
ADVISER
Timothy Searchinger,
Senior Research
Scholar, School of
Public and International
Affairs and the Center
for Policy Research on
Energy and the
Environment
Conventional wisdom suggests that farmers who
lease land are less likely to invest in its longterm
productivity. I explored the relationship
between land tenure and the adoption of two
soil-conservation practices — cover cropping and
no-tillage — by evaluating county-level survey
and remote sensing data from the U.S. Corn Belt.
I found that the prevalence of rental activity is
associated with a decline in the adoption of one
or both of these practices. These findings offer a
promising addition to the existing quantitative
scholarship on this issue. I then studied existing
qualitative research and interviewed several
individuals in the agriculture sector to explore
possible solutions. Currently, the costs and
risks of conservation are shouldered primarily
by tenants while the benefits accrue mainly
to landowners and society. I found that a
redistribution of risk and cost between tenants
and operators, and tenants and society, is
necessary. I suggest that tenants be compensated
by operators through cost-sharing, longer lease
terms, and flexible lease arrangements. Tenants
also should be compensated by society through
increased funding of conservation programs and
the implementation of a carbon banking system
that pays farmers for the carbon sequestered
through conservation practices.
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