The National Cooperative Soil Survey, a partnership of local, state, and federal agencies, has developed an extensive inventory of the soil resources of the United States.  The information contained in this inventory has supported the development of the most productive agricultural system in the world and provided numerous ancillary benefits as well.

An understanding of the benefits generated by government programs provides guidance for future funding and management decisions.  As the initial, comprehensive soil survey of the US nears completion, it is an appropriate time to assess the economic benefits attributable to the National Cooperative Soil Survey Program and to develop estimates of the economic benefits of potential future cooperative soil survey activities.  Mausbach (1998) provides a summary of some of the potential future directions for the soil survey that should be assessed.

Assessing economic benefits of a program that supports such a wide variety of decisions is complex.  The benefits are diverse and dispersed – spatially and temporally across segments of society and by potential use of the information.  Farms, businesses, non-profit organizations, and government agencies (local, state and federal) rely on soil survey information to support a wide array of programmatic activities and management decisions.  Benefits attributable to the availability of soil survey information vary by location and potential land use alternatives.  Some benefits are immediate, some occur over time, and some may not be realized for many years.  Benefits accrue from improved private decisions; benefits also accrue from the public goods and nature of the information provided.  In general, soils information is a key component in efficiently and effectively increasing the nation's productivity while managing soil resources for the benefit of both current and future generations.

Estimates of benefits that accrue to the National Cooperative Soil Survey Program can be combined with information on program budgets to perform benefit-cost analyses of the overall program and sectors within the overall program.  The ability to disaggregate the benefit-cost analysis by programmatic area and spatial extent depends on both the methods selected for benefits estimation and the availability of detailed cost data by programmatic and spatial area.