while these programmes were not intended to directly target agricultural pollution of the bay indirectly they have had a number of beneficial impacts on water quality in the bay most significantly has been the decline in soil erosion on cropland and pasture attributed to conservation compliance under the conservation reserve program crp oecd b also expenditure on the environmental quality and incentive program eqip has been increased rapidly over recent years figure with more than half the programme s funding directed at water quality conservation and managing livestock manure shortle et al