Carol Davit| Springfield News-Leader
One of the most important tools for agriculture in Missouri is almost gone: prairie. Once covering 15 million acres of our state, today we have fewer than 45,000 intact acres — less than one-half of 1% of its original area. Beneath our remnant prairies is an intricate network of roots and life that deeply captures and stores carbon and allows prairie plants to thrive in volatile climates.
Despite their importance, Missouri’s remaining prairies and other native grasslands rank among the planet's most endangered and least protected biomes, vanishing faster than many other habitats. In the U.S., nearly half of our native grasslands have disappeared, including nearly all of Missouri's tallgrass prairies, dwindling to scattered remnants.
Yet, Missouri’s precious prairie remnants hold the keys to sustainable land use. Seeds from prairie plants, for instance, support a native seed industry that allows for the establishment of prairie strips, a voluntary farm-conservation practice that helps row crop farmers protect productive agricultural soils. As another example, cattle producers who convert at least part of their fescue pastures to native plants — made possible thanks to seeds from prairie grasses and other plants and voluntary farm-conservation practices — have nutritious, palatable forage for their animals to eat, even in the hottest months.
As Missouri's farmers know, agriculture is highly dependent on specific climate and landscape conditions — but those factors are rapidly changing. This past summer, one of the hottest in Missouri's history, saw extreme drought in 15.7% of the state, imposing significant economic costs on farmers. Missouri, enduring over 50 climate disasters in the past decade and ranking among the top five states for climate change impacts, is at the forefront of our nation's climate challenges.
However, Show-Me State farmers are never ones to give up and accept misfortune. Instead, many are embracing climate-smart agricultural practices, such as prairie strips and native forage, which protect yields and help protect soil and water quality for future generations. While most landowners are environmentally conscious and value conservation, many require funding and support to sustain their lands.
Filling that gap is the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). As part of the Farm Bill passed by Congress every five years, the USDA funds a collection of voluntary, incentive-based conservation programs, which provide private landowners and farmers with financial and technical assistance that they need to implement climate-smart practices.
Traditionally, however, these programs have been so popular that they are often oversubscribed and have to turn away up to 75% of qualified applicants, which leaves the conservation needs of 13.8 million acres unmet because of inadequate funding every year. Proper investment in these programs is crucial for our nation's farming, climate change mitigation, and rural communities.
Thankfully, last year, a coalition of farmer, sportsmen and women, and wildlife groups secured $20 billion for Farm Bill conservation programs through the Inflation Reduction Act, marking the most significant investment in conservation since the Dust Bowl.
In Missouri, we have proof that incentive-based programs work. Grasslands across the Great Plains and the Midwest have been rapidly converted to cropland, partially to feed a growing population but also due to a disconnect between public policy and on-the-ground reality. The Farm Bill Sodsaver provision, implemented in other states in the region, addressed this disconnect by reducing crop insurance assistance for farmers who break up native sod and convert it to cropland. Senators John Thune (R-SD) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) aim to make Sodsaver a nationwide policy through the American Prairie Conservation Act.
Missouri Governor Mike Parson and Senator Josh Hawley have acknowledged the need to address the state’s drought and farming conditions in the new Farm Bill. Now, Missouri needs those acknowledgments to turn into actionable investments so that the next generation of farmers can thrive.
As Congress negotiates a potentially $1 trillion Farm Bill, we urge Congressional members to fulfill their $20 billion promise to empower farmers in Missouri and across the country with the conservation tools and resources that they need. We ask that Congressional members vote to ensure the permanent inclusion of IRA funding and climate sideboards in the Farm Bill.
Conserving Missouri’s remaining native grasslands is a first step in the protection of biodiversity, water supply, and the carbon storage capacity of land, and secure the livelihoods of countless Missourians. It’s time to act for the grasslands and the future of our farmers.
Carol Davit is executive director of the Missouri Prairie Foundation.
