Story on WWF report misleads on grassland conversion
By Warren Formo, executive director of the Minnesota Agricultural Water Resource Center
The following letter to the editor was submitted to the Star Tribune in response to a recent story based on a World Wildlife Fund report.
To the editor:
Conversion of Minnesota grasslands to cropland might indeed be cause for concern, if it were actually happening. A recent Star Tribune article based on a World Wildlife Fund report claims that nearly 2 million acres of grassland were converted to crops from 2012 to 2019. As a close observer of agricultural trends in Minnesota, this claim got my attention.
Preservation of habitat, birds and pollinators, along with safeguarding water quality, are critically important to all Minnesotans. However, a productive discussion on cropland acres and land use needs to be founded in good statistics.
The WWF report is based on a very limited data set from USDA along with satellite imagery not intended for this type of analysis. Let’s take a look at more complete data from both state and federal sources.
The Minnesota Board of Soil and Water Resources (BWSR) reports annually the number of cropland acres across the state, by county, and the number of cropland acres enrolled in CRP, CCRP, CREP, RIM, and WRP. That’s a lot acronyms for different conservation programs, all of which mean cropland is being used as either grassland or wetland habitat.
In 2012, BWSR reported a total cropland area of 23.1 million acres of cropland, 1.8 million of which were in one of the programs mentioned above, for a net of 21.3 million acres devoted to crops. In 2019, BWSR reports showed a smaller cropland area, 22.0 million acres, of which 1.5 million were enrolled in a land-retirement program, for a net of 20.5 million acres. In short, if nearly 2 million acres of grassland were converted to cropland, as the WWF report claims, how did statewide cropland area decline by about 800,000 acres?
The fortunate reality is that Minnesota farmers are leaders in protecting natural resources and addressing environmental concerns. As reported in USDA’s 2017 Census of Agriculture, the use of cover crops is growing, and less intensive tillage practice, like no-till and strip-till, are being implemented on more acres.
Within agricultural circles, a great deal of time and financial resources are being invested in continuously improving the way we grow crops and livestock. Farmers recognize the importance of preserving natural spaces for habitat. It’s about balance.
I would invite the WWF to be part of a more complete and balanced conversation on land use in Minnesota. It is truly an important topic.
Warren Formo
Executive Director, Minnesota Agricultural Water Resource Center
