Resumen de Expanding grass-based agriculture on marginal land in the U.S. Great Plains: The role of management intensive grazing
Tong Wang, Hailong Jin, Urs P. Kreuter, Richard Teague
Compared to conventional tillage-based crop production, grass-based agriculture can support substantially more ecosystem benefits. Moreover, management intensive grazing (MIG) has the capacity to enhance grassland resilience, thereby enhancing the profitability of grass-based agriculture. The research reported here is based on a survey of 4,500 producers in the Great Plains of USA, which aimed to study the role of grazing intensity on producers’ land use decisions. We received 875 completed questionnaires, representing a 20.6% response rate of 4,250 eligible sample. Results from multivariate ordered probit modeling analysis indicated that, compared to continuous grazing (CG) users, MIG users were 11% more likely to have expanded their grassland area in the past and 13% more likely to convert cropland to grassland in the next 10 years. Other factors, including higher cattle sales, greater liability ratio, poorer land quality and regional factors, were found to significantly influence producers’ intentions to purchase and lease more grassland. However, these factors were not significantly associated with the intention to convert marginal land to grassland. Therefore, the adoption of MIG appears to be a key factor for restoring marginal croplands to permanent grassland cover to enhance the environmental benefits across the Great Plains from the social perspective.
