A win-win on agricultural lands: creating wildlife habitat through agroforestry

Abstract

The 2014 Farm Bill reduces conservation program spending by $6 billion—the first decrease in conservation funding by a Farm Bill since the inclusion of conservation incentives in 1985. These funding cuts will impact habitat enhancement on private lands, typically accomplished through Farm Bill incentive programs such as the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP). CRP lands alone will shrink from 32 million acres in the previous Farm Bill to 24 million acres by 2017 (NWF 2014). So the question becomes: What other options can produce economic benefits for ranchers and farmers while also providing wildlife benefits?

Citation

Bentrup, Gary. 2014. A win-win on agricultural lands: creating wildlife habitat through agroforestry. The Wildlife Professional 8(2):26-30.