PLOWPRINT 2025 REPORT

The 2025 Plowprint Report shifts its focus from annual data analysis to identifying strategic opportunities and policy solutions for grassland conservation in North America. Due to changes in government data, the author has paused its typical analysis of grassland conversion in the Great Plains. The document highlights several collaborative initiatives, such as the Central Grasslands Roadmap and the JV8 Central Grasslands Initiative, and advocates for policy reforms including the expansion of the Sodsaver program, strengthening the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), and reforming biofuels policy to prevent further cropland expansion. It also emphasizes the role of Tribal food sovereignty and bison restoration in maintaining ecosystem health.

• The 2025 quantitative analysis of grassland conversion in the Great Plains has been paused because of changes in the underlying government data used to track trends, prompting a review of newer datasets like the National Land Cover Data Dataset, which provides annual updates back to 1985.
• Grassland loss continues to have severe ecological impacts; the 2024 report recorded nearly 2 million acres of grasslands lost to crops in the Great Plains, contributing to steep population declines in grassland-dependent birds and the endangered status of the Southern Plains bumble bee.
• Current biofuels policies, including the federal Renewable Fuel Standard and California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard, are linked to the expansion of U.S. cropland by 6–10 million acres between 2007 and 2018, primarily for soy and corn production.
• Several multi-national and regional coalitions are working to protect grasslands, including the JV8 Central Grasslands Initiative, which manages 700 million acres across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, and the Central Grasslands Roadmap.
• The report recommends specific legislative and policy actions to curb plow-up, such as expanding the Sodsaver program nationwide to remove crop insurance subsidies for newly tilled native sod for 10 years and passing the North American Grasslands Conservation Act.

APA

WWF International (2025). PLOWPRINT 2025 REPORT. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/1758/PlowprintReport_2025_FINAL.pdf

Chicago

WWF International. PLOWPRINT 2025 REPORT. 2025. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/1758/PlowprintReport_2025_FINAL.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=WWF International |title=PLOWPRINT 2025 REPORT |date=2025 |url=https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/1758/PlowprintReport_2025_FINAL.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{wwfinternational2025plowprint, author = {{WWF International}}, title = {{PLOWPRINT 2025 REPORT}}, institution = {WWF International}, year = {2025}, url = {https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/1758/PlowprintReport_2025_FINAL.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }