From Civil Eats, November 22, 2021.
Lisa Schulte Moore used to have to explain the benefits of her work to farmers in the Corn Belt. Now, over half of farmers in Iowa are willing to plant prairie strips next to cropland to improve soil health and water quality and mitigate climate change.
Ecologist Lisa Schulte Moore is changing the agricultural landscape one prairie strip at a time. These swathes of native prairie strategically planted on farmland as contour buffers or edge-of-field filters are an ecological wonder. Not only do they help control erosion and mitigate climate change, but they also improve soil health, water quality, and biodiversity. And few have done more to promote their use than Schulte Moore, who has worked across communities and disciplines to bring the benefits of prairie strips to the Corn Belt and beyond.