Grasslands to Crops: Americas Disappearing Grasslands
High crop prices and federal mandates for ethanol production are pushing agricultural operations to tear out prairies and grasslands at the fastest rate since the Dust Bowl era.
A new study by Christopher Wright and Michael Wimberly of South Dakota State University finds that between 2006 and 2011, more than 1.3 million acres of grassland were lost to corn and soybean cultivation in the upper Midwest.
Driven in part by high prices, and bolstered by taxpayer-subsidized crop insurance, increased corn and soybean cultivation is claiming acreage previously devoted to prairies and grasslands that provide essential habitat for wildlife while filtering pollutants our of agricultural runoff before water reached rivers, lakes, and streams.
These staggering losses have been the subject of recent media attention from the corn belt to the beltway. Our friends at the Environmental Working Group covered this issue well.
EWGs work on the issue is also a potent reminder of last years failed attempts to redraft the U.S. Farm Bill. Current proposal in both the U.S. House and Senate cut billions in conservation programs, designed specifically to work with farm operations to protect vulnerable lands.
The report from the Environmental Working Group makes the case that any new U.S. Farm Bill must protect water quality by protecting vital landscapes, and reforming the crop insurance subsidies and ethanol mandates that are driving grassland losses throughout the nation.