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Pastureland makes up 27% of the US; crop land is 18% [1]. What do you mean by "tiny fraction?" Is pastureland different than grassland? [1] USDA National Resou

Pastureland makes up 27% of the US; crop land is 18% [1]. What do you mean by "tiny fraction?" Is pastureland different than grassland? [1] USDA National Resource Conservation Service "Range and Pastureland" https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/national/landuse/rangepasture/?cid=nrcsdev11_001074 https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/national/la...

SamBam 5y ago
That is more than I had understood remained, and also a surprisingly high number. Possibly there is an issue of definitions. This site, for instance, calculates that 40% of the US used to be grassland, and it's now under 5%. [1] Possibly there is a difference been "old growth" unmanaged grassland, and "pastureland" that is mostly seeded with purchased grass and clover seed. Certainly the old prairies do not exist in any meaningful sense. If you ever read Little House on the Prairie you might recall that they traveled for weeks across grassland that was uninterrupted and looked simply like a flat sea of grass for as far as the eye could see. In any case, even if those numbers are correct it seems like the number of cows is 50% higher and the amount of grassland is about 25% lower (from 40% to 30%). 1. https://www.nathab.com/blog/grasslands-a-lot-more-than-just-flyover-country/ https://www.nathab.com/blog/grasslands-a-lot-more-than-just-...
- spenczar5 5y ago
  I agree that there seems to be some wobbliness in definitions here. I think your citation must have an error. It says: > In the United States, only 5 percent of the original grasslands remain; or about 358 million acres. If I understand this right, it's claiming that there were once 20 * 358M = 7,160M acres of grassland. But the total size of the United States - everything, not just grass - is about 2,400M acres, so that can't be right. Maybe they mean 5% of an original 358M? But no; the "358 million acres" in that blog post is a link to a conservation group report; the report is definitely saying that there are 358 million acres of grassland in the US today. Definitely agreed that the old prairies are pretty different, especially in the wet crop-heavy areas like Iowa. But as I understand it, the dryer west, like the Dakotas and Nebraska and Colorado, are not as changed. But anyway, I'm really interested in the original topic - do we still have good carbon sinks? I would think all that pastureland would be pretty good at sucking up carbon and storing it in soil, but I don't know.
  - SamBam 5y ago
    > I would think all that pastureland would be pretty good at sucking up carbon and storing it in soil, but I don't know. I'm unsure, but my understanding is that carbon sequestration of the old-growth "permaculture" of the prairies and other grasslands comes from their extremely deep roots. [1] I'm not sure what the pastures of a typical large cattle farm look like, and whether their roots travel anywhere near as deep. However, as we're already establishing, I'm not an expert. 1. https://www.fws.gov/news/blog/index.cfm/2011/6/27/iowa-the-power-of-prairies https://www.fws.gov/news/blog/index.cfm/2011/6/27/iowa-the-p...

SamBam 5y ago

That is more than I had understood remained, and also a surprisingly high number. Possibly there is an issue of definitions. This site, for instance, calculates that 40% of the US used to be grassland, and it's now under 5%. [1] Possibly there is a difference been "old growth" unmanaged grassland, and "pastureland" that is mostly seeded with purchased grass and clover seed. Certainly the old prairies do not exist in any meaningful sense. If you ever read Little House on the Prairie you might recall that they traveled for weeks across grassland that was uninterrupted and looked simply like a flat sea of grass for as far as the eye could see. In any case, even if those numbers are correct it seems like the number of cows is 50% higher and the amount of grassland is about 25% lower (from 40% to 30%). 1. https://www.nathab.com/blog/grasslands-a-lot-more-than-just-flyover-country/ https://www.nathab.com/blog/grasslands-a-lot-more-than-just-...

spenczar5 5y ago
I agree that there seems to be some wobbliness in definitions here. I think your citation must have an error. It says: > In the United States, only 5 percent of the original grasslands remain; or about 358 million acres. If I understand this right, it's claiming that there were once 20 * 358M = 7,160M acres of grassland. But the total size of the United States - everything, not just grass - is about 2,400M acres, so that can't be right. Maybe they mean 5% of an original 358M? But no; the "358 million acres" in that blog post is a link to a conservation group report; the report is definitely saying that there are 358 million acres of grassland in the US today. Definitely agreed that the old prairies are pretty different, especially in the wet crop-heavy areas like Iowa. But as I understand it, the dryer west, like the Dakotas and Nebraska and Colorado, are not as changed. But anyway, I'm really interested in the original topic - do we still have good carbon sinks? I would think all that pastureland would be pretty good at sucking up carbon and storing it in soil, but I don't know.
- SamBam 5y ago
  > I would think all that pastureland would be pretty good at sucking up carbon and storing it in soil, but I don't know. I'm unsure, but my understanding is that carbon sequestration of the old-growth "permaculture" of the prairies and other grasslands comes from their extremely deep roots. [1] I'm not sure what the pastures of a typical large cattle farm look like, and whether their roots travel anywhere near as deep. However, as we're already establishing, I'm not an expert. 1. https://www.fws.gov/news/blog/index.cfm/2011/6/27/iowa-the-power-of-prairies https://www.fws.gov/news/blog/index.cfm/2011/6/27/iowa-the-p...