Prairie Strips Case Studies

Drone photo of field with prairie strips at sunset

Implementing Prairie as Conservation

What does it take to implement prairie as a conservation practice on a farm? Compared to other Conservation Reserve Program practices, prairie strips (CP43) offer many advantages. Prairie strips can be placed both within and on the edge of fields. Planting 10% of fields to prairie strips can reduce sediment and nutrient loss. The practice is flexible, with the option of driving on strips when needed for farm operations. And converting marginal land can even improve overall farm profitability. However, it's a process and there is a learning curve.

From 2019-2023, the TPC received a grant from the USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research to work with landowners, farm operators and farm managers in Iowa and Minnesota, documenting their experiences and as they planned and implemented prairie strips on six farms. We are grateful to those farmers and the farmer-led advisory committee that guided us in this project.