Kansas tallgrass in danger

The agriculture and ethanol boom has been good to Lawrence farmer John Pendleton, as rising corn and food prices bring in more revenue to Pendleton's Country Market. But Pendleton hasn't completely turned his land over to the boom. Spaced throughout the farm's few hundred acres are strips of untouched grasses, part of the Conservation Reserve Program and the fight to keep Kansas' native plants and wildlife alive in spite of the recent increase in planting corn and soy beans.

"I have no intention of farming that ground because I see the major benefits of having it be idle," Pendleton said.

The major benefits include preventing soil erosion, maintaining natural water sources and conserving native grass species, which are all main goals of the Conservation Reserve Program. Native prairie tallgrass once covered 140 million acres across the Midwest. Today fewer than 5.6 million acres remain. The CRP contracts with farmers to sustain this endangered land by providing farming equipment, technical support, manual labor and monetary rents, which is paid for by allocated funds in the 2007 Farm Bill. The new Farm Bill, passed in June, set aside roughly four billion dollars for conservation efforts, two billion of which is specifically for the CRP. But even with increased spending the prospective income promised from the high price for commodities like corn and soybeans outweighs incentives 

supplied by the conservation programs.

One problem is that a large portion of the contracts expire between 2007 and 2010. According to Erin Questad, Ph.D., Kelly Kindscher, Ph.D., John Pendleton and the Farm Service Agency, instead of re-applying for placement in the program, Midwestern farmers are replacing conservation acres with food crops. 

Kelly Kindscher, professor of ecology and environmental studies at the University of Kansas, said he is concerned about the repercussions of over-farming.

"Many people, including farmers, don't realize the environmental damage of current agricultural practices," Kindscher said. "It would be a lot better for the soil and the environment if we didn't farm as much, but unfortunately that's not where the American economy is right now." 

Pendleton said that 10 years ago, the CRP was much more appealing because commodity prices for agriculture ended up being less than what it actually cost farmers to grow the crops. The monetary incentives for farmers to leave their fields idle or use them for harvesting hay made drawing up the 10-year-plus contracts more attractive. 

Now that those contracts are expiring at a time where agricultural products are selling for an all-time high, Pendleton said he thinks farmers are less likely to renew their contracts and it is even less likely for the CRP to draft new ones, unless the monetary payouts are significantly higher. 

"There are benefits to soil conservation, but not everybody looks strictly at the bottom line," he said. 

Carla Wikoff, Ad Program Specialist for the Kansas State Farm Service Agency said that determining whether fewer farmers will sign up is difficult to tell because of some new provisions that limit the amount of acres allowed to be enrolled at one time.

"With lowering the acreage cap, a lot of the farmers with big plots of land [in the program] aren't eligible for re-enrollment," Wikoff said, "At this point right now, it's difficult to say how enrollment will change with the new Farm Bill."

Modern farming practices strip the land of natural preventers of erosion because natural

 grasses and wildlife habitats absorb excess rainwater. 

Pendleton attributes the health of his crops to the strips of natural vegetation he has kept. "Low-lying areas, like the ones around here, are prone to flooding," Pendleton said, "grasses and hay absorb the water; crops don't," which is why he said he would keep renewing his contracts with the CRP. 

Erin Questad, KU doctoral graduate in environmental studies, discovered that planting certain species of hay and native plants significantly reduces erosion on farm lands. She said she hopes her research will help farmers see the benefits of enrolling in the CRP. 

"Part of my research is to understand the effect of huge land convergence on native species and how to fix the problems that arise from it," Questad said. 

"Farmers and people who keep grazing animals in general should be more educated on the effects of over-grazing, and how to prevent that from happening," Kindscher said. "In our research we've found that grasses that were mowed or cut had more diversity than those that were subjected to intense grazing."

According to Questad, in order to save the natural species of the Great Plains, the CRP needs to increase its enrollment, plant more diverse species of grasses, and focus more on planting and cutting the grass for hay instead of using idle land for grazing.

The CRP and the scientists working with environmental conservation plan to increase education and awareness in order to encourage more conservation practices. Kelly Kindscher said that lack of education on the hazards of modern farming practices is where the CRP is lagging, and said he hopes his research will help counter that.