Farmland Conservation Essay ⋆ Environment Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

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The issue of protecting natural resources in agriculture has long been a concern for many American farmers. Farmland conservation began with the recognition that soil erosion reduced of soil fertility. For example, many of the staple crops historically grown in the United States for export-such as cotton, tobacco, and corn-have long been planted in rows to control weeds. However, this left the land bare to rainfall, precipiting soil erosion. Sloping and hilly land is also particularly susceptible to soil erosion.

A number of early agricultural reformers began proposing various soil conserving practices. Jared Eliot, Samuel Deane, and John Taylor (during the late 1600s and early 1700s) relied on personal experiences in suggesting pasture and crop rotations to increase fertility and lessen erosion by maintaining ground cover and improving soil tilth. These early conservationists were also quick to understand the advantages of the hillside plow and horizontal plowing. Called contour farming today, this method involves running the furrows around the hillside on a horizontal plane. Each ridge forms a mound that serves to reduce erosion.

Yet soil erosion continued to be a problem into the late 19th and early 20th centuries. W.J. McGee and N.S. Shaler wrote extensively about the problem, as did Chicago geologist T.C. Chamberlain (who spoke at the White House on the subject in 1908). It was not until the 1930s, however, when dust storms swept through the Great Plains, that the general public began to take notice of the issue of soil erosion in particular and farmland conservation more generally.

During the 20th century, greater attention has been placed on taking land out of farmland production in an attempt to not only preserve soil, but also wildlife, wetlands, and biodiversity. Some of these strategies include agricultural conservation easements, in which the landowner transfers certain rights, such as commercial development of the land, to a conservation organization or government agency. This option provides owners certain tax advantages as well as peace of mind.

The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) came out of the Food Security Act of 1985. The U.S. Department of Agriculture provides an annual rental payment for landowners of highly erodible farmland to establish and maintain various types of perennial vegetation and agree to leave the land idle for the length of the lease. This helps to reduce soil erosion and sedimentation in streams and lakes, improve water quality, improve wildlife habitat, and enhance forest and wetland resources. Currently, there are about 35 million areas enrolled in this program.

Developing suburban and urban areas pressure land values and tax bases, posing a threat to the continued existence of farmland. Initiatives in the form of growth control statutes, zoning, and easements at the state, county, and municipal levels have been instituted to protect farmland from conversion to residential and commercial development.

Bibliography:

Richard Brewer, The Land Trust Movement in America (University Press of New England, 2004);
Tom L. Daniels and Deborah Bowers, Holding Our Ground: Protecting America’s Farms and Farmland (Island Press, 1997).