Saving Our Grasslands

The document identifies the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) and crop insurance subsidies as primary drivers of grassland conversion in North America. It proposes specific reforms to these policies, alongside the expansion of Farm Bill conservation programs and the passage of the North American Grasslands Conservation Act, to mitigate biodiversity loss and enhance carbon sequestration.

• Grasslands are vital for climate mitigation and biodiversity, holding approximately one-third of global terrestrial carbon stocks and providing resilience against drought, heat, and wildfire in the American West.
• Significant habitat loss has occurred in the Great Plains, with 10 million acres of grassland lost between 2016 and 2020, primarily due to conversion for row crop agriculture.
• The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) has driven grassland conversion because the EPA's 'aggregate compliance' approach masks the plowing of native lands by using a national baseline of 402 million acres of eligible cropland from 2007.
• Federal crop insurance subsidies incentivize the conversion of marginal and high-risk lands to crop production, with government costs being more than 2.5 times higher in high-risk areas compared to low-risk areas.
• The 'Sodsaver' provision, which reduces crop insurance subsidies on converted native sod in six states, is currently insufficient to deter farming on marginal lands.
• Reducing food loss and waste, of which approximately 35 percent of US agricultural products go unsold or uneaten, would decrease the pressure to convert grasslands for food production.

APA

Friedman, S. (2023). Saving Our Grasslands. WWF International. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/125/7u2gyhzni0_Policy_Brief_Grasslands_051123.3_57_.pdf

Chicago

Friedman, Suzy. Saving Our Grasslands. WWF International, 2023. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/125/7u2gyhzni0_Policy_Brief_Grasslands_051123.3_57_.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Friedman |first1=Suzy |title=Saving Our Grasslands |publisher=WWF International |date=2023 |url=https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/125/7u2gyhzni0_Policy_Brief_Grasslands_051123.3_57_.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{friedman2023saving, author = {Friedman, Suzy}, title = {{Saving Our Grasslands}}, institution = {WWF International}, year = {2023}, url = {https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/125/7u2gyhzni0_Policy_Brief_Grasslands_051123.3_57_.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }