THE USDA AND OTHER FEDERAL AGENCIES SPEND BILLIONS OF DOLLARS ANNUALLY ON CONSERVATION PROGRAMS THAT ENHANCE ECOSYSTEM SERVICES, IMPROVE RURAL QUALITY OF LIFE, AND BENEFIT THE US PUBLIC. THESE PROGRAMS PROMOTE AGRICULTURAL SUSTAINABILITY AND PROVIDE BENEFITS SUCH AS IMPROVED WATER QUALITY AND AQUATIC ECOSYSTEM SERVICES, BOTH REGIONALLY AND NATIONWIDE. THE BIOPHYSICAL IMPACTS OF THESE PROGRAMS, E.G., EFFECTS ON WATER QUALITY AND AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS, CAN BE ESTIMATED USING ESTABLISHED BIOPHYSICAL MODELS. THE ECONOMIC BENEFITS OF THESE PROGRAMS, HOWEVER, ARE GENERALLY UNKNOWN. DESPITE DECADES OF ACADEMIC AND OTHER RESEARCH SEEKING TO UNDERSTAND THE ECONOMIC VALUE OF ECOSYSTEM SERVICE AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPROVEMENTS, USDA IS CURRENTLY UNABLE TO ACCURATELY MEASURE THE ECOSYSTEM SERVICE BENEFITS PROVIDED BY MANY OF ITS POLICIES AND PROGRAMS. BECAUSE ORIGINAL, PRIMARY-DATA STUDIES TO MEASURE THESE VALUES CANNOT BE CONDUCTED EVERYWHERE, LARGE-SCALE ECOSYSTEM SERVICE VALUATION (ESV) OF THIS TYPE ALMOST ALWAYS REQUIRES BENEFIT TRANSFER. BENEFIT TRANSFER USES EXISTING ECONOMIC VALUE ESTIMATES FROM PRIOR STUDIES AT ONE OR MORE LOCATIONS TO PREDICT ECONOMIC VALUE ESTIMATES SUCH AS WILLINGNESS TO PAY (WTP) AT OTHER, TYPICALLY UNSTUDIED LOCATIONS. BENEFIT TRANSFER CAN PRODUCE ECONOMIC VALUE ESTIMATES FOR AREAS AND ECOSYSTEM SERVICE IMPROVEMENTS FOR WHICH ORIGINAL ECONOMIC VALUATION STUDIES HAVE NOT BEEN CONDUCTED--THEREBY PROVIDING ECONOMIC VALUE ESTIMATES FOR LARGE-SCALE AGRICULTURAL CONSERVATION. METHODS SUCH AS THESE CAN PROVIDE OTHERWISE-UNAVAILABLE INFORMATION ON THE PUBLIC BENEFITS OF AGRICULTURAL CONSERVATION PROGRAMS. HOWEVER, BENEFIT TRANSFER METHODS SUFFICIENT FOR RELIABLE, REPEATED, LARGE-SCALE ESV ARE NOT YET SUFFICIENTLY DEVELOPED.ADDRESSING THIS LONGSTANDING CHALLENGE REQUIRES PRACTICAL AND RELIABLE BENEFIT TRANSFER METHODS DESIGNED FOR LARGE-SCALE ESV. VALUATION META-REGRESSION MODELS (MRMS) PROVIDE A PROMISING FOUNDATION FOR THESE BENEFIT TRANSFERS. THESE MODELS SYNTHESIZE DATA (CALLED VALUATION METADATA) FROM MANY PRIOR ECONOMIC VALUATION STUDIES ON SIMILAR TYPES OF ENVIRONMENTAL OR ECOSYSTEM SERVICE IMPROVEMENTS (E.G., WATER QUALITY CHANGES) TO PRODUCE AN UMBRELLA VALUATION FUNCTION. THESE FUNCTIONS MAY BE USED TO PREDICT THE SAME TYPE OF VALUES FOR SITUATIONS OR LOCATIONS WHERE NO ORIGINAL ECONOMIC VALUATION STUDIES HAVE BEEN CONDUCTED. METHODS OF THIS TYPE CAN PROVIDE IDEAL TOOLS TO HELP UNDERSTAND AND PREDICT THE PER HOUSEHOLD, REGIONAL AND NATIONWIDE BENEFITS FROM ENVIRONMENTAL AND ECOSYSTEM SERVICE IMPROVEMENTS, SUCH THAT THOSE THAT RESULT FROM AGRICULTURAL CONSERVATION. YET DESPITE THE PROMISE OF THESE VALUE-PREDICTION MODELS, NO EXISTING MRMS POSSESS THE COMPLETE PROPERTIES REQUIRED TO SUPPORT FLEXIBLE, VALID AND RELIABLE LARGE-SCALE BENEFIT TRANSFER FOR AGRICULTURAL CONSERVATION PROGRAMS.RESPONDING TO THIS GAP IN AVAILABLE METHODS, THIS PROJECT WILL DEVELOP, ILLUSTRATE AND EVALUATE THE FIRST INTEGRATED BIOPHYSICAL AND META-ANALYTIC BENEFIT TRANSFER MODEL SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED TO ESTIMATE SPATIALLY EXPLICIT ECOSYSTEM SERVICE BENEFITS FROM LARGE-SCALE AGRICULTURAL CONSERVATION, WHILE ADDRESSING KEY LIMITATIONS THAT HAVE AFFECTED PRIOR BENEFIT TRANSFER APPROACHES. THE APPROACH WILL ENABLE PRACTICAL, VALID AND RELIABLE BENEFIT TRANSFER USING META-REGRESSION METHODS INTEGRATED WITH COMMON TYPES OF BIOPHYSICAL MODELS USED TO PREDICT ECOSYSTEM SERVICE CHANGES. THE APPROACH WILL BE DEMONSTRATED USING CASE STUDIES AT MULTIPLE HYDROLOGIC UNIT SCALES WITHIN TWO US REGIONS (MIDWEST, NORTHEAST), FOCUSING ON AGRICULTURAL CONSERVATION PROGRAMS THAT ENHANCE AQUATIC SYSTEMS AND ECOSYSTEM SERVICES. THE METADATA WILL EXTEND EXISTING DATA DRAWN FROM PRIMARY STATED PREFERENCE STUDIES OF WILLINGNESS TO PAY (WTP) FOR WATER QUALITY CHANGES THAT AFFECT AQUATIC SYSTEMS, AND WILL BE SUPPLEMENTED USING EXTERNAL DATASETS ON LAND USE/COVER, HYDROGRAPHY, ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS, AGRICULTURE, AND HUMAN POPULATIONS. THE RESULTING META-REGRESSIONMODELS WILL INCLUDE MULTIPLE INNOVATIONS TO ENABLE VALID AND RELIABLE WTP PREDICTIONS TARGETED TO DIFFERENT LOCATIONS AND TYPES OF ECOSYSTEM SERVICE CHANGES. THESE ESTIMATES WILL BE VALIDATED USING A LARGE-SCALE PRIMARY STUDY ADAPTED FOR THIS PURPOSE, LEVERAGING ONGOING WORK FUNDED BY US EPA. THESE MODELS WILL ENABLE PER HOUSEHOLD AND AGGREGATE ECONOMIC VALUE ESTIMATES FOR DIFFERENT TYPES OF AQUATIC ECOSYSTEM SERVICES CHANGES IN DIFFERENT LOCATIONS, AND WILL ENABLE LOCALLY TARGETED BENEFIT TRANSFERS THAT ACCOUNT FOR SPATIAL HETEROGENEITY IN BENEFIT FUNCTIONS, BIOPHYSICAL IMPACTS AND ECONOMIC VALUES. THE APPROACHES WILL BE ADAPTABLE TO A WIDE RANGE OF POLICIES AND PROGRAMS. THE GOAL IS A FLEXIBLE AND PRACTICAL BENEFIT TRANSFER FRAMEWORK APPLICABLE TO LARGE-SCALE AGRICULTURAL CONSERVATION PROGRAMS THAT ENHANCE WATER QUALITY AND AQUATIC ECOSYSTEM SERVICES. THIS WILL INCREASE THE CAPACITY OF USDA AND OTHERS TO UNDERSTAND THEECONOMIC VALUES GENERATED VIA US AGRICULTURAL CONSERVATION PROGRAMS.