Farmers, ranchers contributing to Earth Day successes

America’s farmers and ranchers take seriously their role as primary caretakers of the land. Because of the agriculture industry’s many efforts to protect the environment and wildlife, farmers and ranchers have much to celebrate this Earth Day (April 22).

Through the use of modern conservation and tillage practices, agricultural producers have greatly reduced the loss of soil through erosion, while at the same time enriching the earth.

As of March 2008, farmers enrolled 34.5 million acres of their land in the Conservation Reserve Program to protect the environment and provide habitat for wildlife. More than half of America’s agricultural producers intentionally provide habitat for wildlife, which has significantly increased many populations.

 “With the use of modern farming techniques, such as biotechnology and global positioning satellites, farmers are able to produce food, fiber, and crops for renewable fuels safely and efficiently,” said American Farm Bureau Federation president Bob Stallman. “Renewable fuels produced from corn, soybeans and other crops are beneficial for the environment and stand ready to play a significant role in promoting a higher degree of energy independence for our nation.

Facts to consider:
 
Over the past decade and a half, farmers have dramatically increased their use of conservation tillage techniques that keep crop residue such as leaves and stalks in the field. According to the Conservation Technology Information Center, conservation tillage is used on abut 109 million acres, equal to more than 60 percent of the acres planted to crops in the U.S.
 
Using conservation tillage greatly reduces field runoff and keeps crop protectants where they belong – in the field and out of streams. This helps protect water quality.
 
The erosion rate by water on U.S. cropland has been reduced by more than 40 percent since 1982, according to the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. In 1982, 4.1 tons of soil per acre were lost to erosion. Today, soil lost to erosion is down to less than three tons per acre.

Soil erosion has been decreased by 90 percent – to less than one ton per acre per year –
on 25 million acres of highly-erodible land enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program. Most soils naturally regenerate at rates of two to 12 tons per acre per year, according to the Soil and Water Conservation Society. A generation ago, soil erosion rates of up to 40 tons an acre were recorded during the Dust Bowl. Today's new farming methods and tillage techniques have made erosion almost negligible, while enriching the soil in the process.

Farmers and ranchers produced a net increase of 263,000 acres of wetlands from 1997 to 2003 – a net gain of 44,000 acres per year.
 
Total wetland acreage is 111 million acres, or about seven percent of the land area of the lower 48 states.

From 1985 to 2005, an additional 2.3 million ducks per year were produced on CRP lands in the Prairie Pothole Region. Nearly 750,000 northern bobwhite quail are produced annually on CRP lands.

More than half of America’s agricultural producers intentionally provide habitat for wildlife. Deer, moose, fowl and other species have shown significant population increases in the past several years.

Farmers and ranchers have a vested interest in protecting endangered species and the habitats in which they live. More than 75 percent of species listed as endangered or threatened live on private lands and more than one-third live only on private lands.