Abstract
The conclusions of a recent study by Wright and Wimberly (1) suggesting that corn/soy cultivation in the Western Corn Belt (WCB) “threatens grasslands” are questionable because of the methods and data used. The study (1) compared National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) Cropland Data Layer (CDL) for 2006 with CDL for 2011 (2) and found 530,000 ha of net “grassland conversion” to corn/soy. The study (1) labeled over 3.5 million ha of CDL cropland (alfalfa, other/hay, and fallow/idle) as “grassland” in 2006 and then improperly counted any corn/soy rotation to that land in 2011 as “grassland conversion.” The study also failed to mention that total “grassland” area as defined in the study (1) grew by 1.6 million ha from 2006 to 2011, continuing a 20-y trend of net grassland expansion across the northern plains (3).
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