The development and application of a methodology for evaluating the environmental and economic impacts of placing marginal, submarginal, and Soil Bank land in crop production is described. Environmental impacts were measured by quantifying the increased environmental loadings of sediment, nitrogen, and phosphorus and by estimating the potential environmental impact of pesticides. Economic consequences considered included changes in net farm income and aggregate impact on the state's economy. Although no attempt was made to place a dollar value on environmental consequences, these impacts can be weighed against the economic impacts in a tradeoff fashion as a measure of social costs and benefits resulting from increased production on new cropland. The developed methodology was applied to the state of Georgia and for the period 1973-1976. The pollutants generated annually from each hectare of converted crop production land during the period were estimated to be 11.9 metric tons of sediment, 8.1 kilograms of nitrogen loss (excluding leaching), and 10.5 kilograms of phosphorus loss. Net farm income increased an estimated $61 per hectare annually.

"January 1980." "Grant No. R804510-01." "Project Officers, Thomas E. Waddell, George W. Bailey, Technology Development and Applications Branch." Includes bibliographical references (pages 75-83).