Grasslands, wetlands, and agriculture: the fate of land expiring from the Conservation Reserve Program in the Midwestern United States
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...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2016-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/11/9/094005 |
| _version_ | 1797748566813310976 |
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| author | Philip E Morefield Stephen D LeDuc Christopher M Clark Richard Iovanna |
| author_facet | Philip E Morefield Stephen D LeDuc Christopher M Clark Richard Iovanna |
| author_sort | Philip E Morefield |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | 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. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:06:38Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7fc47091b43e44b1aafdcb785afa874c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:06:38Z |
| publishDate | 2016-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-7fc47091b43e44b1aafdcb785afa874c2023-08-09T14:20:16ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262016-01-0111909400510.1088/1748-9326/11/9/094005Grasslands, wetlands, and agriculture: the fate of land expiring from the Conservation Reserve Program in the Midwestern United StatesPhilip E Morefield0Stephen D LeDuc1Christopher M Clark2Richard Iovanna3National Center for Environmental Assessment, US Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, ORD-NCEA-8623-P, Washington, DC 20460, USANational Center for Environmental Assessment, US Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, ORD-NCEA-8623-P, Washington, DC 20460, USANational Center for Environmental Assessment, US Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, ORD-NCEA-8623-P, Washington, DC 20460, USAUS Department of Agriculture, Farm Service Agency, PO Box 2415, Washington, DC 20250, USAThe 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.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/11/9/094005Conservation Reserve Programland use changecornsoygrasslandswetlands |
| spellingShingle | Philip E Morefield Stephen D LeDuc Christopher M Clark Richard Iovanna Grasslands, wetlands, and agriculture: the fate of land expiring from the Conservation Reserve Program in the Midwestern United States Environmental Research Letters Conservation Reserve Program land use change corn soy grasslands wetlands |
| title | Grasslands, wetlands, and agriculture: the fate of land expiring from the Conservation Reserve Program in the Midwestern United States |
| title_full | Grasslands, wetlands, and agriculture: the fate of land expiring from the Conservation Reserve Program in the Midwestern United States |
| title_fullStr | Grasslands, wetlands, and agriculture: the fate of land expiring from the Conservation Reserve Program in the Midwestern United States |
| title_full_unstemmed | Grasslands, wetlands, and agriculture: the fate of land expiring from the Conservation Reserve Program in the Midwestern United States |
| title_short | Grasslands, wetlands, and agriculture: the fate of land expiring from the Conservation Reserve Program in the Midwestern United States |
| title_sort | grasslands wetlands and agriculture the fate of land expiring from the conservation reserve program in the midwestern united states |
| topic | Conservation Reserve Program land use change corn soy grasslands wetlands |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/11/9/094005 |
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