Years ago I Hunted on a farm near Gettysburg, PA. Told the farmer one day that he had a nice farm, how comes not all of it was in production? He grinned said, pointing “ Over there is 60 acres I get paid to not plant tobacco. Over there is 80 acres I get paid not to plant wheat. Over there is X acres I get paid not to plant buckwheat. Over there is 90 acres I DO plant corn in, but the National Parks pay me for crop damage if there is, or isn’t, any from their deer which can’t be hunted.”
Well, some folks are being compensated for taking their land out of production. The problem is not the compensation itself, but the sort of mentality that could conceive of, fund and put into place such a weird machination.