<![CDATA[Grist - Comment Feed for Why plowing up Conservation Reserve Program land won’t solve the food crisis]]> Grist Comment Feed en Comment #1 by egbooth http://www.grist.org/article/anwr-of-the-heartland/ Fri, 11 Apr 2008 04:01:16 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/anwr-of-the-heartland/1 this is truly startling

The Conservation Reserve Program has been an enormously successful program especially here in my home state of Wisconsin. Any economist will tell you the economic benefit of putting this marginal land back into production but nearly all of them won't be able to tell you the economic costs of doing so. The ecosystem services that these lands provide (habitat for valuable species, flood attenuation, water quality improvement, recreation, etc.) should have a substantial monetary value associated with them but they never make it into an economic analysis. Why? Because nobody understands how to appraise their value. Quantifying ecosystem services is a huge and important challenge for natural resource scientists to research in the coming years. It is absolutely imperative for us to understand the TRUE cost of the economic decisions we make. If we don't, we will undoubtedly be faced with more environmental quality problems in the future.

]]> this is truly startling

The Conservation Reserve Program has been an enormously successful program especially here in my home state of Wisconsin. Any economist will tell you the economic benefit of putting this marginal land back into production but nearly all of them won't be able to tell you the economic costs of doing so. The ecosystem services that these lands provide (habitat for valuable species, flood attenuation, water quality improvement, recreation, etc.) should have a substantial monetary value associated with them but they never make it into an economic analysis. Why? Because nobody understands how to appraise their value. Quantifying ecosystem services is a huge and important challenge for natural resource scientists to research in the coming years. It is absolutely imperative for us to understand the TRUE cost of the economic decisions we make. If we don't, we will undoubtedly be faced with more environmental quality problems in the future.

]]> Comment #2 by Biodiversivist http://www.grist.org/article/anwr-of-the-heartland/ Mon, 14 Apr 2008 01:01:15 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/anwr-of-the-heartland/2 Build grain reserves?

Biofuel proponents call them a "crop surplus" and argue that getting rid of them is a good thing. One term has a positive connotation, the other a negative.

Definition from online dictionary,

Crop failure: The failure of crops to produce a marketable surplus.

Of course too much surplus drives prices down, which is good for consumers, bad for producers and vice verse. A country must protect its farm industry but this funneling of billions of tax dollars to the ag industry in the biofuel Trojan horse is perverse. Maybe calls need to start going out to end our mandates as is happening in Europe.

In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world

]]> Build grain reserves?

Biofuel proponents call them a "crop surplus" and argue that getting rid of them is a good thing. One term has a positive connotation, the other a negative.

Definition from online dictionary,

Crop failure: The failure of crops to produce a marketable surplus.

Of course too much surplus drives prices down, which is good for consumers, bad for producers and vice verse. A country must protect its farm industry but this funneling of billions of tax dollars to the ag industry in the biofuel Trojan horse is perverse. Maybe calls need to start going out to end our mandates as is happening in Europe.

In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world

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