Hundreds of farmers in the Corn Belt states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri were interviewed. All have erosion-prone farmland either enrolled in a USDA program that takes acreage out of production, or covered by a conservation compliance plan to cut soil loss. Farmers who fail to implement their compliance plans risk losing USDA benefits. By 1996, that dropped to 16 percent. Though it's not of the magnitude of the other drop, taken together the two are significant.
Farmers expect less monitoring because the government is, in fact, doing less of it.
But in 1993, the selection process changed. Staff at the national headquarters decided which tracts to review, and they halved the amount of acreage involved. Kraft thinks this could have serious consequences. Just watch people on the interstate. They see the cop, they slow down.