The historical evolution of public soil and water conservation policies within the United States (US) is examined in the context of the effectiveness of contemporary conservation efforts. Research findings focused on the adoption of soil and water conservation production systems at the farm level are discussed in terms of  past and present conservation initiatives. Socio-economic, public  policy, communications  and farm structure variables are evaluated relative to the ability of such factors to motivate land owner-operators to adopt and to use soil and water conservation production systems at the farm level. Implications of existing research findings are discussed in the context of future conservation programs and policies designed to encourage land owner operators and policies designed to encourage land owner operators to adopt conservation practices and technologies . It is argued that both voluntary and coercive approaches should be employed to formulate future conservation policies and programs.