Vilsack rejects calls to open conservation land for crops to help avert global food shortage, says it would help little

The United States and allies have pledged to plant more crops this spring to avert a global food shortage from the war in Ukraine. But Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack "poured cold water on Republican and industry calls to pull land out of the Conservation Reserve Program and put it back into production," Ximena Bustillo reports for Politico's Weekly Agriculture.

Vilsack, a former governor of Iowa, wrote in a March 31 letter to the National Grain and Feed Association: "Quickly converting this land to crop production is clearly unfeasible, even if we were to overlook the negative consequences of increased erosion and reduced water quality, wildlife habitat reduction, and decreased carbon sequestration and storage."

Conservation Reserve, once called "the soil bank," pays farmers a yearly rate to allow land subject to erosion and other damage to go fallow for at least a decade to improve its health. "They can receive higher payments by adopting certain climate-friendly practices that improve water quality, increase carbon sequestration or protect wildlife habitats," Bustillo reports.

Vilsack said only 1.3 percent of land in the program is prime farmland ready for planting, much is experiencing "significant levels of drought," and most is grassland far better suited to grazing than crops. Not only would it be impossible to get all of it ready to plant this year, he said, but most of it would produce poorly, and growing crops would create a "significant and detrimental impact on producers’ efforts to mitigate climate change and maintain the long-term health of their land."