The same thing stopping 90% of people in this country - money.

I agree that it is unreasonable to expect the farmer to consider wildlife in their practices. After all, ducks, turkeys, deer, etc are all way down the list of things that are important to the average person. A dollar will always be more important.

How many farmers do you know on a large scale who are the first generation and purchased their land? Around here farms are passed down generation to generation as well as the leases to ground not owned. "Their property" is really great grandpas property, and he bought it for a handful of peanuts and a handshake.

As with anything in life, if you bought it with your money you will care more about it. Successful industries should not require government bailouts or subsidies to continue.

Proverbs 27 : 19
As in water face reflects face, so the heart of the man reflects the man.

Soil Stewardship is leaving the land better in better "shape" than when you came into possession of it. There are a minority that are very good stewards of the land. Unfortunately the majority are not.

"It's my land, I'll do with it as I please, screw everyone else." I cannot count how many times I've heard this over 32 years as a Soil & Water Conservationist with USDA Soil Conservation Service (SCS), now known as Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).
I handed off the "baton" when I retired in 2009. Much of the soil conservation & water quality work I did over many years no longer exists out there.
Thankfully there are still excellent stewards of the land out there ! We need more...

I've bought 240 acres so far, im behind where I wanted to be but I went broke in 2020... I'm meeting with the USDA grazing specialist this spring so we can determine the how to best graze a pasture while leaving waterfowl nesting habitat.

I'm fine with a carrot and stick approach to farming, incentive good management practices while removing subsides for those who don't practice them. When fertilizer comes flowing off a field in the spring and turns a lake scuzzy green and causes fish die offs the stick should be large and hit hard.

For anyone who wants to say "it's my land ill do whatever I want" please also post your full name and location so we can look up your history of receiving subsidies to make sure you're the proper Libertian you claim to be. (That's not targeted at anyone in particular, just a general comment.)

Can't believe you wrote this - I'm surprised.
There are no longer true farmers being born - when an old farmer today dies a huge part of the world that surrounded him leaves with him - never again will that small woods or fence rows be reborn - nor will the old farmer. Land owners today are "agri-businessman." I come from a long family history of farming - I'm proud to say that. My dad was a member of the "greatest generation" - used the GI loan program to become an independent farmer. His parents went though the "great depression" - when neighbors would buy the neighbors farm at auction to keep the family farm alive. The tenders of the land today are "bean counters" where the profit is, and always will be the government subsidies - we are all funding this nonsense.

My land is great wildlife habitat. I've literally planted hundreds of trees, vines and bushes that produce food, most of which doesn't get harvested. I don't get anything for making it that way. I want wildlife on my property to hunt, trap and observe.

I have neighbors who have 15 acres of shortly mowed, non native grass, with less than a dozen trees on their entire properties. I would not want my property like that. I think it looks bad and that it's stupid to spend that much time mowing and spraying weed killer on grass. I still believe it's none of my business that they do that.

If my neighbors chose to contaminate the local water supply, that's when there should be consequences, just like it would be if a farmer did so.

Keith

I own a share in the family farms ... my dad's side family farm has been in our family since around 1894 or so... and now my mom's family farm has been owned by our family since around 1918. Both farms are irrigated but we have not bulldozed everything down from property line to property line. We have draws and ponds and wasteland and old pasture let go back to wild. Neighbors just can't figure out why we don't level it all and plant corn and beans. SE of these farms aways they did just that. Leveled it all.. put big wells and pivots on the land.... spay everything heavily if they even see a weed. Big shot farmers.... and where do they go hunt deer come fall? In our area that still has deer. All year long they stop or call just about everyone that has land with trees and creeks, old pasture waterways etc and ask to hunt in the fall. Some are paying pretty big dollars to get their foot in the door to hunt a certain area. Kinda ticks me off... when they ask me or my siblings we tell them to go hunt their own land. They say there ain't nothing there! Then we remind them that there was back before their dad or grand dad bulldozed everything out..... 40,50, maybe even 60 years ago. Then we say no permission granted to the likes of you ! Yes we need to eat... and agriculture still drives the economy in rural areas...and pays most of the taxes the county needs to survive. . but the love of the dollar is the root of much evil !

I figured the OP had more of a problem with calling farmers "conservationists" than he had issue with what they were doing on their land.

Some farmers are conservationists, many definitely aren't. I would prefer they were all conservationists, but believe they should be able to choose what they do with their land, as long as they aren't damaging a shared resource like water.

Keith

Hey Trader Vic,
Were farmers lowering the water tables in their fields with tiles and pumps when you were working for SCS?

This is getting crazy around here. Water is being pumped and fast tracked to the nearest creek or river practically year round. I see them pumping like crazy in the spring long before it’s time to plant. It’s nuts. This adds to erosion and flooding. I can’t believe it’s even legal but it’s going on everywhere around here.

Well said. Thank You.

This is spot on to what has happened in my little area over the past 3 decades or so…. A few of us have left properties as Mother Nature intended, and we have plenty of deer, turkey, and fowl to have fun with. The big boys just don’t understand why we tell them to pound sand come hunting season…. A field mouse couldn’t survive on their ground as it is barren as a desert come October…. No fence rows, waterways, ponds, and heaven forbid a tree on any of their property….. So sad from my youth when that was some of our old hunting grounds when multiple families would get together for pheasant/partridge hunts and deer drives….

I understand why they do it, but it still ticks me off. I always hope for wet spring and fall weather and frozen deep ground as long as possible to try and slow them down. Some really big floods would help too, teach them why they had buffer strips and wide waterways. 40 years ago it was a way better place to raise kids who enjoy the outdoors.

Last Thursday, the lack of wildlife on huge farms was made abundantly clear by the complete lack of tracks on the snow on the farms without trees or above ground waterways. The farms with thick wooded rows and streams had tracks all over the place.

Keith

I started working for SCS in 1979. At that time, the environmental pendulum was swinging SCS away from production agriculture (aka drainage). In my first field office, the staff wouldn't give up engineering drainage practices and installing them, so I learned a lot about surface and subsurface drainage.

So....to answer your question Trapset, I'd say the answer is yes. The 1985 Farm Bill (first of many Farm Bills) introduced "Swampbuster" restrictions on new drainage and only allowed maintenance of previously constructed and documented drainage systems.

In the last 30 years there have been numerous Federal initiatives that restore wetlands.

Agree people should able to use their property as they see fit as long as it doesn't cause damage to another.

Maybe it should be that only farmers who practice good conservation receive subsidies. Those who want to clear habitat and ruin the soil can do so, but are not eligible. For any type.

There are already a lot of cost share programs through NRCS, FSA, and State offices for land owners who practice good conservation and land management. That comes from the tax payers pocket. I do not want any of my money going to a farmer who's only concern is their bottom line. I'm not saying that's a good or bad business model, but I don't believe they should receive money from my wallet.

ol' dad