If you live long enough, you will notice that history tends to repeat itself. It may be in simple things - like clothing styles. Check out the black rim glasses and plaid shorts in the stores these days. Or it may be in something that has a lasting affect on our land - like the number of land acres in conservation. Clearly, as you drive through the county this year, you can see that we are beginning to turn full cycle on this important issue.

After a slump in the early 1980’s, farm values have been on the rise. Recently land sold in Sioux County for $8,000/acre. The small farmer has been pushed out of the market, and the land is being forced by corporate farms to produce more and more crops. Farming has become bigger at the expense of our natural resources. Grass waterways are being drained. Marginal hay ground is turned into row crops so now even the ditch habitat is eliminated when the ditches are cut for hay.

At issue is not about the profit of the farmer. It is about incentives that the government offers, who the government is offering the incentives to, and what practices are now being rewarded.

As a conservation board director, it is becoming harder and harder to promote the use of ethanol when you view the destruction of the habitat that is involved. What is the total cost? Calculate the number of trips across the field to get the seed in and the corn out. Look at the number of acres that are being taken out of conservation practices and forced into row crops. Pheasants Forever estimated that this year in Iowa 200 square miles of conservation area will be turned into cropland. By October, 2008 this land total will increase to 350-400 square miles of reduced conservation acres. For years Iowa has ranked second only to South Dakota in pheasant population. This year that ranking could fall to fifth. The pheasant population can be used as an indicator of the health of conservation land practices. Alternative fuel sources are positive and necessary, but corn-based ethanol may not be the answer.

Hats off to Theodore Roosevelt for starting the National Park system. Look back to the days of the Soil Bank. Instead of abuse of the land, let’s look for ways that corporate farms could put a certain percentage of land into conservation practices.

These are just the views of a director who has been around long enough to see cycles repeat.

Terry Boltjes,

Director

This is an extraordinary tale of how America’s great grassy plains turn to dust. This plague was man-made. Farming practices, economic disaster (Depression) and natural disaster (drought) combined to result in ecological and human catastrophe. Egan makes the account come to life with great story telling abilities and real characters. This is definitely one of the best reads of the year.