No question the program has problems. Early on, here in Iowa, it was not unusual for entire farms to be enrolled in the program. They all had erodible land, but the whole farm? Not in many cases. But, on the other hand, those places sure grew a lot of pheasants!
When the program changed, under the 96 Farm Bill, it really made a lot more sense in terms of making erosion the target. Stream buffers have done quite a bit to improve water quality in Iowa. But those buffers, while better than nothing, aren't nearly as good as entire fields taken out of production, as far as wildlife is concerned.
