The Food Security Act of 1985 contains provisions which disqualifies farmers who farm highly erodible land from receiving any type of federal benefits; i.e., deficiency payments, CCC loans, FCIC, FMHA, disaster payments. USDA published a set of interim rules for implementing these provisions and allowed for comment on those rules. This paper examined the impact of those rules on the economy of an eight county region of the Texas Southern High Plains. The study found that under those rules, the region would suffer no less than a $21 million loss in farm receipts and the state would realize a $70 million loss in business sales. Further, for farmers farming the most highly erodible soils of that region, they have no chance of surviving over the next five years if those rules were implemented today.