Grasslands, wetlands, and agriculture: the fate of land expiring from the Conservation Reserve Program in the Midwestern United States

Abstract

The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) is the largest agricultural land-retirement program in the United States, providing many environmental benefits, including wildlife habitat and improved air, water, and soil quality. Since 2007, however, CRP area has declined by over 25% nationally with much of this land returning to agriculture. Despite this trend, it is unclear what types of CRP land are being converted, to what crops, and where. All of these specific factors greatly affect environmental impacts. To answer these questions, we quantified shifts in expiring CRP parcels to five major crop-types (corn, soy, winter and spring wheat, and sorghum) in a 12-state, Midwestern region of the United States using a US Department of Agriculture (USDA), field-level CRP database and USDA's Cropland Data Layer. For the years 2010 through 2013, we estimate almost 30%, or more than 530 000 ha, of expiring CRP land returned to the production of these five crops in our study area, with soy and corn accounting for the vast majority of these shifts. Grasslands were the largest type of CRP land converted (360 000 ha), followed by specifically designated wildlife habitat (76 000 ha), and wetland areas (53 000 ha). These wetland areas were not just wetlands themselves, but also a mix of land covers enhancing or protecting wetland ecosystem services (e.g., wetland buffers). Areas in the Dakotas, Nebraska, and southern Iowa were hotspots of change, with the highest areas of CRP land moving back to agriculture. By contrast, we estimate only a small amount (∼3%) of the expiring land shifted into similar, non-CRP land-retirement or easement programs. Reconciling needs for food, feed, fuel, and healthy ecosystems is an immense challenge for farmers, conservationists, and state and federal agencies. Reduced enrollment and the turnover of CRP land from conservation to agriculture raises questions about sustaining ecosystem services in this region.

The future of North American grassland birds: Incorporating persistent and emergent threats into full annual cycle conservation priorities

“…Through the US Farm Bill, the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) pays farmers to keep environmentally sensitive lands out of production for 10-15 years and currently protects at least 3.4 million ha of native or planted grasslands across the Great Plains Region (NABCI, 2017). However, most grassland conversion today is occurring on lands being taken out of CRP (Lark, Salmon, & Gibbs, 2015;Morefield, LeDuc, Clark, & Iovanna, 2016). This suggests market incentives have shifted and highlights the precarious nature of conservation gains from voluntary programs (Wright, Larson, Lark, & Gibbs, 2017).…”

Targeted subfield switchgrass integration could improve the farm economy, water quality, and bioenergy feedstock production

“…Despite their well-known environmental benefits, large tracts of perennial grasses in the Corn Belt were converted back to cropland in the past decade as farmers took advantage of record grain prices (Lark et al, 2015;Morefield et al, 2016). In practice, perceived socioeconomic barriers prevent the implementation of urgently needed conservation management (James et al, 2010), but this perception may not always be accurate.…”

Climate policy action needed to reduce vulnerability of conservation‐reliant grassland birds in North America

“…This occurred in spite of the existence of voluntary programs for grassland conservation in the United States like the Conservation Reserve Program (https://www.fsa.usda.gov/programs-and-services/conservation-programs/conservation-reserve-program/index), the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program, and the Crop Production on Native Sod program (https://www.ers.usda.gov/agricultural-act-of-2014-highlights-and-implications/conservation), which have helped stabilize the decline in grassland bird populations (NABCI, ). Most present‐day grasslands conversion are lands taken out of CRP (Lark et al, ; Morefield, LeDuc, Clark, & Iovanna, ) highlighting the precarious nature of conservation gains from voluntary programs (Wright et al, ). Programs like the Land and Water Conservation Fund (https://www.doi.gov/lwcf), which distributes federal revenue from oil and gas development to land conservation programs that include acquisitions, easements, and enhancements of grasslands among other habitats, may be more effective at protecting grasslands.…”