Mike Bryan, CEO of BBI Biofuels, criticizes a recent study by researchers at South Dakota State University, which found that more than 1.3 million acres of grassland were converted to corn and soybean fields between 2006 and 2011, the highest rate of grassland conversion in the U.S. Corn Belt since the 1930s. In their study, Christopher Wright and Michael Wimberly used a geographic information system to analyze USDA data based on satellite imagery, and found that many types of grasslands are being plowed up and converted to cropland — mostly to plant more corn.

Bryan writes about the loss of grasslands as if they are no more important than the grass on his lawn. But grassland loss is no joke for grassland wildlife. In addition to reducing habitat, converting grasslands to cropland increases soil erosion and surface runoff. Once prairie is plowed, restoration efforts can only regain a fraction of the land’s original ecological function. Restoring native prairie is difficult and expensive, and research shows that the habitat quality can never be fully restored.

“Grasslands to cashlands?” Tell that to this black-footed ferret. Corn fields don’t make good wildlife habitat. Photo: J. Michael Lockhart, US Fish & Wildlife Service, via flickr

What’s behind this plow-up? High corn prices, driven in part because about 40% of the country’s corn crop is being used to produce about 13-14 billion gallons of ethanol every year. Experts estimate that 20-30% of the high price of corn is due to the ethanol market.

The plowup and increased corn plantings also crowd out a future with better biofuels. As Wright and Wimberly put it, “the window of opportunity for realizing the benefits of a biofuel industry based on perennial bioenergy crops, rather than corn ethanol and soy biodiesel, may be closing in the Western Corn Belt.” The study suggests we need to be moving to greater production of cellulosic ethanol that utilizes native mixed-grass species as a feedstock, and wouldn’t require converting grasslands to plowed rows of corn or soy.

NWF supports biomass sources that minimize impacts to habitats and biodiversity. Corn ethanol, especially when its cultivation crowds out wildlife and leads to the plowing up of remaining prairies, has increasingly serious impacts that shouldn’t be taken lightly.

Lest we forget floods, another potential result from changing weather patterns due to climate change. Photo: US Fish & Wildlife Service

“What does it mean, in terms of our agricultural economy, if we don’t do more to curb the greenhouse gas issues we’re facing?” Cowan asked.

A good question, and members of Congress don’t ask it often enough. Farmers, and subsequently consumers, are already feeling the effects of climate change. Dr. Joe Glauber, Chief Economist of the USDA, answered the question by discussing a recent USDA report that included these key messages, paraphrased below:

• Bad news: Climate change will have an impact on agricultural productivity, but
• Good news: there are steps we can take to curb emissions and lessen the negative impacts of climate change.

The report explains that the economic effects of climate change on agriculture depend on a complex web of factors. For example, climate change can impact the livestock industry through the price of feed grains, competition for pasture land, and changing patterns of pests and diseases. How it all plays out could very well depend on how the livestock industry adapts to climate change. Farmers could build livestock shelters to protect their animals from extreme temperatures, but how will farmers protect livestock from the less predictable changes in disease distribution?

Climate change is already costing us. Continuing to use the agricultural economy as an example, consider the hefty price tag of the drought of 2012; it cost taxpayers $14.2 billion in crop insurance alone. Our pocketbooks will be feeling the cost of rising food prices throughout 2013. That is why it is even more important to take action and promote agricultural policies that encourage climate-friendly farming.

As several agricultural producers testified in the hearing, conservation practices have the potential to make farming systems more resilient to changing weather patterns.  For example, conservation tillage practices and cover crops have the potential to improve soil health so that the soil holds more water and sequesters more carbon, keeping harmful greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere and making agricultural land more productive.

 Sometimes people ask me why NWF is involved in the fight on climate change.  I work on agricultural issues, but all natural systems are connected. There is no greater threat to wildlife than climate change; it’s that simple.  A recent report by NWF shows the urgency of acting to protect wildlife against climate impacts. That is why I hope you’ll join us this Sunday at the “Forward on Climate Rally” in DC, or consider financially supporting our work.

Click here to view the embedded video.

It’s a romantic view of farmers, but still it resonates with me. I grew up around farmers and the FFA and I don’t believe there’s a more important vocation on the planet. Farmers carry a lot of responsibilities, looking after the land, feeding their own families, and also producing food for the world. As I watched, I wondered why Dodge chose the Super Bowl to deliver that message of appreciation to farmers.

Maybe it was a show of solidarity after a hard year. First, there was the 2012 drought, one of the worst in recent history. Then, the House of Representatives and Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) let farmers down everywhere when they dropped the ball and failed to get a five-year farm bill on the floor.

But for me the Super Bowl commercial evoked an important question: What is the most important role of farmers in our society? It has always been my belief that one of the most important duties is farming the land in a way that protects the earth, and maintains natural resources for the next generation. Liberty Hyde Bailey, a Michigan farmer’s son and agrarian philosopher who lived over a hundred years ago, put it this way:

“We shall conceive of the earth, which is the common habitation, as inviolable. One does not act rightly toward one’s fellows if one does not know how to act rightly toward the earth.” – Liberty Hyde Bailey, The Holy Earth, 1915

Most of the lifelong farmers that I know share Bailey’s views. However, high crop prices, combined with farm subsidies have created a situation that removes the natural risks of farming.  As a result, some farmers are draining wetlands, and grasslands are being plowed up in the Prairie Pothole Region and Great Plains.

We need farmers, and we need to help support farmers as they provide food for the world, while still promoting good stewardship of the land. Two things need to happen in 2013:

1. Congress needs to pass a farm bill.
2. The farm bill must contain a conservation compliance provision and a Sodsaver provision.  This will close the loophole that eliminates natural risks and rewards bad practices.

Please consider writing personally to your Senator and Congressional Representative about this issue, and let s/he know that this is an important issue to you, and why.

“We were too selfish and we were trying to make money. It didn’t work out.” – Dust Bowl Survivor quoted in Ken Burns’s documentary, The Dust Bowl

Wednesday night, I attended an early preview of Ken Burns’ documentary, The Dust Bowl, which will be airing on PBS November the 18th. Mr. Burns presented 6 clips from the film, followed by a panel discussion that also included Dust Bowl survivor Cal Crabill, National Geographic editor Peter Miller, and CBS news correspondent Jim Axelrod.

Click here to view the embedded video.

As a former student of soil science and the history of agriculture in America, I was more than passingly familiar with the story of the Dust Bowl as a cautionary tale of the consequences of the coincidence of human greed, government policy, and extreme climate conditions. As I know the story, a favorable market for crops, speculation from wealthy investors, and encouragement from the federal government led to a massive plow-up of land in the Midwest and Plains States during the 1930s. This was before modern soil conservation practices evolved, when people really believed that their activities would not harm the land.

“The soil is the one indestructible, immutable asset that the nation possesses.  It is one resource that cannot be exhausted, that cannot be used up.” – Federal Bureau of Soils, 1909

We now know the above quote is not true. It is possible for humans to cause incredible, and even irreversible damage to our natural resources. The soil is resilient, but it is not indestructible.

Watching the film brought the human dimension of the Dust Bowl and its aftermath to life in my mind. I can’t imagine what it was like for people to sit in the dark in their own homes, covering their faces with flour sacks or pieces of cloth to keep from breathing in the dirt as black clouds of dust raced by just outside their walls. I can’t imagine the aftermath of poverty, when people’s lives were destroyed and their sources of income depleted, so that mothers went to extreme measures to find lost dimes to feed their children.

Photo: Arthur Rothstein, 1936. Library of Congress. Farm family walks through a dust storm near Cimarron County, Oklahoma.

Right now, market conditions are encouraging farmers to plant fence row to fence row, breaking out new land in the Midwest and Plains and destroying what native grasslands remain. This past summer, one of the worst droughts in recent history created ideal conditions for dust storms. Indeed, yesterday, in Oklahoma, a dust storm caused “near blackout visibility” and a 30 car pile-up, resulting in injuries, damage to property, and the risk of human life.

It is crucial that our government policies do not encourage us to repeat past mistakes. That is why NWF has been fighting to get a national Sodsaver provision applied to the next Farm Bill. The Great Plains of the past that supported vast herds of buffalo and antelope are long gone, but our remaining grasslands are home to a wide array of wildlife, such as pheasants, prairie dogs, and songbirds. It is very important that we don’t lose what little grassland remains. We should remember the lessons of the Dust Bowl, and think not just about what could happen to wildlife, but also what could happen to human beings if we try to do too much on the land.

Let Congress know that you want a national Sodsaver provision in the next Farm Bill.  This is a small step we can take to make sure taxpayer dollars aren’t funding the same kind of activities that contributed to the Dust Bowl.

My job is to update you on the wildlife impacts of Farm Bill developments from the past few months and give you an idea of what conservation’s future might look like, if the Farm Bill doesn’t pass by September, 21st (Please see my previous blog for a basic explanation of what the Farm Bill is and how it affects wildlife).

Recap: Senate and House Bills

On September 12, 2012, farm groups gathered in front of the Capitol to urge Congress to pass the Farm Bill now. National Wildlife Federation staff attended.

• It maintains an adequate level of funding for conservation programs;
• It contains a national Sodsaver provision to protect native grasslands;
• And it requires that farmers receiving taxpayer-funded crop insurance premium subsidies protect the public good by following a soil conservation plan on highly erodible land and refrain from draining wetlands (known as conservation compliance).

After the Senate bill passed, it was the House’s turn to pass their own version. The House Agriculture Committee moved quickly to pass H.R. 6830, the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2012. Although the House version maintained a similar level of funding to conservation in comparison to the Senate bill, it lacked important protection for wildlife. The House bill’s version of Sodsaver only applied to the Prairie Pothole Region, despite efforts by Reps. Timothy Walz (D-Minn.) and Kristi Noem (R-S.D.) to extend Sodsaver nationally and protect native grasslands nationwide. The House version also lacked conservation compliance provisions in exchange for crop insurance premium subsidies. However, if brought to the House floor, members of Congress will have the chance to apply Sodsaver to the entire nation, and apply important soil and water conservation provisions, as Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) did on the Senate floor.

Unfortunately, the Farm Bill is stalled. There are only 3 days left on the Congressional calendar before the 2008 Farm Bill expires on September 30th, 2012, and the House leadership still hasn’t allowed the Farm Bill to go to the floor. Although Rep. Bruce Braley (D-IA) filed a discharge petition to force the House to a vote, it is unlikely the petition will get enough signatures before the Farm Bill expires.

What will happen if the 2008 Farm Bill expires?

The longer it takes to pass a farm bill, the worse things will be for conservation. According to the Congressional Research Service, funding for some conservation programs, including the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), and Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP) was extended beyond the Farm Bill until September 2014, by the FY2012 Agriculture Appropriations Act (P.L. 112-55); however, that appropriation contains significant cuts to all those programs.

But the Farm Bill expiration isn’t the only thing affecting conservation funding right now. In an effort to keep the government running  until March 2013, the House has passed a continuing resolution which would cap some conservation programs and cut others. If the House votes on a Farm Bill in the lame duck session after the November election, there is still another chance to restore vital conservation funding.  If Congress waits until next year to vote on the Farm Bill, the process will have to start all over again and conservation will continue to be a target for disproportionate budget cuts.

Will the agricultural world as we know it come to an end?

Old barns might still be pretty, but old farm laws are not. The Farm Bill has to keep moving forward to keep up with the times. Photo credit: flickr, cwwycoff1

So, no, the world isn’t going to end if the Farm Bill doesn’t pass by September 30th. That being said, I am hugely disappointed in this turn of events. I would like to believe that our elected officials can work together and get things done. A Farm Bill that pleases everyone may not exist. But I believe that with hard, bipartisan work, Congress can pass a Farm Bill we can stand behind. There is still time left, and a bill is so close. Yet so far.

What can you do to make sure mayhem doesn’t ensue and wildlife is protected?

Follow the link to ask your representative to extend the important wildlife protection provisions from the Senate version to the House version of the Bill, whenever it comes to the floor.

UPDATE: September 20th: House Speaker John Boehner announced that the Farm Bill will not go to the House floor until after November elections.  

When most people think about fighting climate change, they think about driving less, using wind power, or protecting carbon sinks like the rainforest.  However, cover crops are a farm practice that sequester carbon, improve water quality and improve a farmer’s profitability all at the same time.

Indiana farmer Ray McCormick visited National Wildlife Federation’s Washington, D.C. advocacy center recently to speak to Congress about the importance of conservation; while he was here, he shared with us the reasons he is so enthusiastic about cover crops.

Cover crops are exactly what they sound like; they are non-commodity crops that cover the soil during the winter when fields are usually left bare (hence the title of this blog). Some popular examples are annual ryegrass, winter wheat, clover, and radish.

Cover crops:

• Reduce soil erosion, resulting in more topsoil on the land and less in the streams;
• Increase soil  nutrients and organic matter, leading to more long-term soil productivity and less need to fertilize crops;
• Provide ground cover that serves as wildlife habitat and forage in the winter;
• Sequester carbon in the soil and from the atmosphere, reducing greenhouse gases; and
• If grown correctly, can improve soil moisture.

A Farmer’s Perspective

Watch the video for Ray’s take on cover crops.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Cover crops are gaining popularity as a farming practice for good reason. “Don’t Farm Naked” is an unofficial slogan developed by cover crop enthusiasts to show support for this practical and beneficial farming practice. The Practical Farmers of Iowa created awesome ”Don’t Farm Naked” t-shirts and the Natural Resources Defense Council Switchboard offers additional perspective on cover crops.

Cover crops are a great way to improve air and water quality while providing food and habitat for wildlife.  However, incentives for farmers to use conservation practices may be in danger if the proper protections are not included in the next Farm Bill. Make sure Congress knows you care that wildlife protections are in place in the 2012 Farm Bill.

The black-tailed prairie dog is a species of conservation need in Texas. Photo Credit: Bureau of Land Management

What Happened

Wednesday, July 11th, the House Agriculture Committee sat for nearly 13 hours working through amendments to the Farm Bill. While the House bill maintained the same overall level of funding for conservation as the Senate’s version of the bill, it failed to protect grasslands across the country.

Sodsaver limits federal subsidies for native grasslands that are broken out for farming. Although the House bill includes a sodsaver provision, it only applies to the Prairie Pothole Region. While the Prairie Potholes are an extremely important and imperiled region, especially for migratory birds, native grasslands are important habitat nationwide. Reps. Timothy Walz (D-Minn.) and Kristi Noem (R-S.D.), along with Representative Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.), offered an amendment that would extend this provision to the entire nation, protecting prairies throughout the country. However, the sponsoring members were forced to withdraw the amendment before the Committee could vote, due to strong opposition from Lucas and Conaway, who wished to exempt Texas and Oklahoma from sodsaver.

I am troubled most by the following arguments from Conaway and Lucas: they didn’t seem to think conversion of grassland into farmland is a problem in their states, and they argued farmers have a right to subsidies without holding any responsibility to taxpayers.  Chairman Lucas stated, “for me in Oklahoma, and my friend in Texas, this is a private property issue.”

Why Sodsaver is not a Private Property Issue

To quote the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, “Wildlife in Oklahoma belongs to the people of Oklahoma even though 95 percent of Oklahoma is privately-owned.” In other words, private landowners have a responsibility to everyone when it comes to wildlife conservation.

Receiving federal funds is not a landowner’s right. My family owns farmland in Tennessee, and we don’t want anyone to tell us how we have to use it. But we also don’t expect the government to subsidize any initiative we undertake. Sodsaver does not take away the rights of landowners to convert grassland into cropland. It merely ensures that they do not receive taxpayer dollars for practices that harm the public. Yet Sodsaver ensures farmers are free to do whatever they wish with their land.

Why Texas and Oklahoma Grasslands Need Protection

Unbroken land is not in use because it is not the most productive cropland. Without federal incentives combined with high crop prices, it would not be put into use. However, when taxpayers subsidize the risk, landowners convert valuable wildlife habitat and rangeland into crops . According to the USDA, total cropland acreage increased across the US in 2012.  In Texas, cropland increased by about 1.6 million acres from 2011 to 2012 – the second highest increase of any state.

Texas and Oklahoma are both home to many grassland species. The Texas Parks & Wildlife has classified many grassland mammals, insects, birds, and plants as “species of greatest conservation need,” including the black-tailed prairie dog.

Oklahoma crop acreage also increased in 2012 by approximately 600,000 acres. A national sodsaver provision is critical for protecting the habitat of grassland wildlife such as the Lesser Prairie Chicken, which is in danger of being listed as an endangered species and is part of conservation efforts in Oklahoma.

Lesser Prairie Chicken. Photo Credit: Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation

What You Can Do

Let Congress know you want the best wildlife protections included in the House Farm Bill.

Last week, NWF and over 100 other conservation organizations won a victory, despite many people telling us for months that it was not possible.  Senator Saxby Chambliss’s (R-GA) amendment to the Farm Bill connecting conservation compliance to crop insurance passed 52-47, in spite of strong opposition from organizations like the American Farm Bureau and the Senate Agriculture Committee leadership, and doubt from leagues of others who just didn’t believe it would happen.

The prairie pothole region is important wildlife habitat in danger of being converted into agricultural uses. Photo credit: US Fish and Wildlife Service

NWF supported the amendment because it ensures that taxpayer dollars don’t fund practices that harm wildlife and the public good.  The requirements are simple: in order to receive premium subsidies on crop insurance farmers must a) refrain from draining wetlands and b) implement a soil conservation plan when farming highly erodible land (see our 2012 Farm Bill priorities page). It will not add extra administrative burdens to the USDA or prevent farmers from obtaining any crop insurance. It’s a commonsense provision and a fair trade for $90 billion dollars in subsidies over the next 10 years. However, interest groups who opposed compliance continue to expect taxpayer support to come no strings attached.

During the past few months, I’ve supported my NWF coworkers as they fought a tireless battle to get this provision into the Senate version of the Farm Bill, even though it may have seemed impossible at times. They weren’t alone in the fight—organizations like the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, American Farmland Trust, the Izaak Walton League and others fought alongside them.

Soon, the House Agriculture Committee will begin work on their version of the Farm Bill and the battle will start all over again. It is crucial that the same protections are extended to wildlife habitat in the House version of the bill. There will be many people who oppose this, for many different reasons. Most of those reasons are just some other version of “it can’t be done.”

But my point is this: anything is possible for those who try.

What Can You Do?

If you want to keep your tax dollars from supporting unsustainable farming practices and help protect America’s wetlands, streams, rivers and lakes, you can help. Over 17,000 wildlife fans asked their Senator to support soil and wetlands conservation in the Senate Farm Bill; now we would like to ask you  to contact your representative in the House and ask for the same thing.

Speak up for Northern Pintail Ducks and urge for wildlife protection in the House Farm Bill.

Why do we need sustainable biomass programs?

Figure 1. Demand for corn ethanol leads to destruction of habitat.

As grasslands and wetlands disappear at alarming rates, many species of wildlife lose their habitat: some bird populations are declining at alarming rates.

How do Farm Bill energy programs benefit wildlife?

As an alternative to corn ethanol, Farm Bill energy programs explore newer, more sustainable biomass crops, such as native grasses, which are less degrading to soil and water than corn ethanol, and can even provide habitat for wildlife.

The Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) and the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) are a win-win because they give incentives for local development of more sustainable energy sources and are also  good for local economies. The National Wildlife Federation played a key role in developing BCAP, which helps to pay the costs of establishing and growing biomass crops near energy facilities.

Figure 2. Farm Bill sustainable biomass programs benefit wildlife and local economies.

REAP helps farmers become less reliant on fossil fuels by providing grants for on farm energy audits and renewable energy projects. The program also provides grants and loan guarantees to small businesses and farmers and ranchers located in rural areas to help them purchase renewable energy systems, make improvements in energy efficiency, and perform renewable energy feasibility studies.

Please ask your Congressional representative to show their support for sustainable, renewable energy by becoming original cosponsors of this marker bill.

Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask for your Congressional representative’s office.  Ask to speak to the member of the staff who works on energy, agriculture, or environmental policy. Tell them you would like your representative to become a cosponsor of the Rural Energy Investment Act.

Current cosponsors of the Rural Energy Investment Act include:

Ron Kind (D-WI), Chellie Pingree (D-ME), Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), Bruce Baley (D-IA), Leonard Boswell (D-IA), Ben Lujan (D-NM), G.K. Butterfield (D-NC), Tim Ryan (D-OH), Donna Christensen (D-VI), Dave Loebsack (D-IA), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Laura Richardson (D-CA), Tim Walz (D-MN), Michael Michaud (D-ME), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Marcia Fudge (D-OH)

*12 representatives from both parties have also shown support for Farm Bill energy programs in a bipartisan letter to the House Agriculture Committee.

For now, I’d like to accentuate the positive. NWF has been working hard to make sure wildlife is represented  - read our 2012 Farm Bill priorities to learn more. We were pleased that one of our priorities – protection for native grasslands through a Sodsaver provision – was included in the Senate Agriculture Committee’s bill. I have written before about Sodsaver, a provision that will limit federal subsidies on native grassland converted into cropland.

Native grassland is an extremely valuable and under-appreciated biome in the US. I grew up a stone’s throw away from the Appalachians, and I remember clearly the first time I drove across the plains states. I had never seen the horizon so far away before, and the land stretching out flat, or slightly rolling until it met the sky. I have only recently started to learn how many amazing plants and animals live in the grasslands – like prairie chickens and Sandhill cranes.

5 Grassland Species

Here are 5 species that can thank the Senate Agriculture Committee for protecting their homes by including a Sodsaver provision – how many of these species did you already know? How many more can you name?

Black-footed ferret. Photo by Ryan Hagerty for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Prairie kingsnake. Photo: Illinois Department of Natural Resources

Snakes are key predators and an important part of prairie ecosystems. Prairie kingsnakes are common grassland snakes that come in a variety of shades of grey to brown. They are non-venomous and they don’t usually bite, but they shake their tales if they feel threatened.

Pronghorn antelopes. Photo: US Fish and Wildlife Service

Regal fritillary butterfly. Photo: flickr, Bill Bouton

Butterflies that depend on prairie habitat are in decline, in Europe as well as the US. Many insects, including important pollinators, depend on grasslands to survive.

Burrowing owl family. Photo: flickr, Annette’s photography

 Burrowing owls, like prairie dogs and ferrets, live in underground burrows (hence the name). Burrowing owls are also unique because they are often active during the day.

Did you already know these animals?  Can you think of any more?  If so, send us a comment through the feature below!