With commodity prices low, the farmers are still willing to pay rental rates that about insure no profits, they are an optimistic bunch. They just don't want to give-up any ground for when things get good (high grain prices) again. With poor ground that produces little, it shouldn't take a big payment to entice an owner to take that ground out of production and have the government pay the "rent". Highly productive ground should/does demand higher cash rent payments, (farmers can make more, they can pay more), so it will take larger government payments to entice the owners to take that ground out of production. Sure, it makes the most sence to only place the most highly erodible ground in the program (in the interest of saving the soil) and I think there were times when the programs only allowed HEL acres to be placed in the program. Basing the payment rates on soil types allowed almost any ground in production to quailfy. On the current program, I am not sure it is soil type, it may be any ground in production, but the payment is based on a percentage of the county rent average, so now it will likely only be the most unproductive ground being put in. The payment by soil type last time around really took some good productive ground out of production and put great bird habitat where you won't see it enrolling now. I am in Iowa and I am guessing this is how it works everywhere.