By Rachel Cramer
Corn and soybeans dominate the Midwestern landscape today, but farmers are integrating strips of native prairie back into their fields. This conservation practice has expanded to more than a dozen states, including Missouri.
Between two corn fields in central Iowa, Lee Tesdell walks through a corridor of native prairie grasses and wildflowers. Crickets trill as dickcissels, small brown birds with yellow chests, pop out of the dewy groundcover.
“There’s a lot of life out here, and it’s one of the reasons I like it, especially in these late summer days,” Tesdell said.
This is a prairie strip. Ranging from 30 to 120 feet wide, these bands of native perennials are placed strategically in a row-crop field, often in areas with low yields and high runoff. Tesdell has three on his century farm.
He points out several native plants — big bluestem, wild quinine, milkweed, common evening primrose — that came from a 70-species seed mix he planted here six years ago. These prairie plants help improve the soil while also protecting his more fertile fields from bursts of heavy rain and severe storms, which are becoming more frequent.
“To a conventional farmer, this looks like a weed patch with a few pretty flowers in it, and I admit it looks odd in the corn and soy landscape in central Iowa. But I do it for several reasons, that I think are good reasons,” he said. “I’m trying to be more climate change resilient on my farm.”
Research shows that converting as little as 10% of a corn or soybean field into a prairie strip can reduce soil erosion by 95%. Prairie strips also help reduce nutrient pollution, store excess carbon underground and provide critical habitat for pollinators and grassland birds.
Federal funding through the USDA’s Conservation Reserve Program has helped prairie strips take off in recent years. And new incentives and markets could support more wide-spread adoption.
But the idea for prairie strips started two decades ago with Iowa State University researchers and Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge managers. Lisa Schulte Moore, a landscape ecologist and co-director of the Bioeconomy Institute at Iowa State University, has been integral to the research and outreach for this conservation practice. She received national recognition in 2021 with a MacArthur “Genius” grant.
Schulte Moore emphasizes that large patches of restored and reconstructed prairie are vital, especially for wildlife. But integrating small amounts of native habitat back into the two dominant ecosystems — corn and soybeans — can make a big difference.
“I dream of driving across Iowa [in] winter and seeing various shades of greens and yellows and oranges, rather than brown,” said Schulte Moore.
Natural water filters
In north central Missouri, farmer Doug Doughty has been adding and expanding conservation practices, like no-till, for decades. He also has a few hundred acres of prairie enrolled in the USDA’s Conservation Reserve Program. This past winter, he added prairie strips.
One of Doughty’s motivations to do more is nutrient pollution. High levels of nitrates and phosphorus can wreak havoc on aquatic habitats and the economies that depend on them. There are also health risks for people. Nitrates in drinking water have been associated with blue baby syndrome and cancer.
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