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The article profiles Barry K. Goodwin, a Fellow of the American Agricultural Economics Association in 2006. Goodwin's various affiliations and awards are presented. He is William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor at the Departments of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Economics from 2003 and up to the present in 2006. He is also the Associated Editor of the "American Journal of Agricultural Economics" from 1999 to 2001. He develops a deep interest in the quantitative analysis of markets and policy issues important to agriculture.

The article aims to present a conceptual framework for the analysis of ecosystem services (ES) supply in the U.S. It will also discuss some of the data and modeling issues that arise in predicting farmers' participation in ES contracts and the supply of ES resulting from them. To frame the discussion, the researchers outline a model of the supply of ES that illustrates the ways that spatial and system complexity can affect it. This model is used to discuss the data and modeling issues that arise in empirical implementation.

The article reflects on the timeliness of the topic of ecosystem services (ES) in the arena of agricultural policy in the U.S. According to the author, policies and programs founded in ES science and economics can provide genuine alternatives to decades of commodity-based federal farm policy. The evolution of agricultural policy as it transforms to incorporate ES measures and transactions is uncertain. It will be marked by analytic challenges and policy retreats to old ways. ES assessments will enable budget allocation, planning and priority setting on the part of public agencies.