PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 



The appraisal of the Soil Bank made in this study covers the impact of 

 the Conservation Reserve Program during its first four years of operation 

 in Coos County, New Hampshire. The Program for 1960 had not been re- 

 leased by the United States Department of Agriculture at the time data 

 were gathered for this study. At time of publication, however, the enroll- 

 ment in the 1960 Program was about 1,000 acres of cropland in Coos 

 County. A preliminary appraisal of the agricultural units enrolled in the 

 1960 Program indicates little need for change in the final conclusions 

 concerning the impact of the Program on the economy of Coos County, 

 although it did raise the proportion of the county cropland enrolled from 

 17 to 20 percent. Thus, the factual data as well as the conclusions of the 

 study generally apply to five years of operation of the Soil Bank Pro- 

 gram in Coos County. 



The New Hampshire State Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation 

 Committee in recognizing the need for an economic study of the Soil Bank 

 Program made it possible for the Coos County Agricultural Stabilization 

 concerning the impact of the Program on the economy of Coos County, 

 Committee provided office records of participators in the Soil Bank and 

 carried out the enumeration of a field survey under the direction of Mr. 

 Norman Craggy. The analysis and interpretation of data are, however, 

 the responsibility of the authors. 



The authors wish to thank W. F. Henry, Department of Agricultural 

 Economics, University of New Hampshire, and C. W. Crickman, Farm 

 Economics Research Division, Agricultural Research Service, for their 

 critical appraisal of the manuscript. The authors also wish to thank H, 

 L. Scheibel, Mrs. R. M. Batchelder, and Mrs. R. C. Slanetz for their hand- 

 ling of graphics, typing, and data. Errors in fact or judgment are of course^ 

 the responsibility of the authors. 



