Grasslands are important for folks, nature, and the local weather, but we’re plowing them up for cropland at an astounding, unsustainable price. WWF’s 2023 Plowprint Report exhibits that 1.6 million acres of grassland habitat have been destroyed within the Great Plains throughout the US and Canada in 2021. Since 2012, we have misplaced 32 million acres, plowed up primarily for row crop agriculture.
Healthy grasslands are invaluable. They present important habitat for crops and wildlife, retailer huge quantities of carbon that assist mitigate the local weather disaster, present livelihoods and meals safety to rural communities and Native Nations throughout the area, and help a vibrant ranching trade.
Good public coverage is among the greatest instruments available to show the tide of destruction within the Great Plains. We can not afford to lose any extra of this treasured ecosystem; we have now already misplaced 70% of America’s prairies, and solely 377 million acres stay throughout the Great Plains—a lot of which is privately owned and managed.
To reverse present developments, we should handle the insurance policies which might be encouraging grassland plow-up, bolster funding in applications preserving them intact, and help sustainable, grass-based agriculture.
