Course: BFM 101 Biofuels Fundamentals

Breadcrumb Navigation

Reading »

Reading

(7/12)
(9/12)

(8/12)
Landscape Diversity

Historically, farms in the United States have been multiple agricultural enterprises (diverse systems) with pastures, multiple annual and perennial crops and more than one species of livestock. Diversified farms generally maintained smaller crop fields and pastures, which created a landscape more closely resembling wild lands. Economic pressures, federal policies and lifestyle choices have encouraged a less diverse agricultural system and, over time, farms have evolved into much more focused annual crop and confinement livestock farming systems. In the upper Midwest, corn ands soybeans are the two main annual agricultural crops grown in rotation. Some people consider this to be a monoculture system.

Farmland that contains a mix of annual crop and perennial habitats will support more species and more ecosystem services than farmland dominated by one or a few annual crops. In many areas, annual crops are produced on marginal land. Planting these areas with perennial biofuel crops could increase landscape diversity, which is important because different organisms may have different needs. Such diverse landscapes may support more types of organisms, ensuring that a decline in one species is offset by the presence of another to fill a need. In addition, species may meet their various needs by using different habitats; diverse landscapes could provide for these needs.

Resources provided by the eXtension Farm Energy Community of Practice at http://www.extension.org/ag+energy

(7/12)
(9/12)