The incoming Biden administration said that they will cooperate with US agriculture to combat climate change. For Iowa, this is an interesting paradox: a large amount of fossil fuel is currently burned to produce livestock feed and fuel ethanol, which is the main product of land cultivation in the state. Fortunately, the Biden plan is just a move now. This gives us time to think about how to reshape the landscape in a way that benefits nature and our fellow citizens.
Technological advancements may soon allow renewable energy sources (wind and solar) to blow through fossil fuels to achieve efficient power generation. Combined with the emergence of electric vehicles, this will erode the demand for ethanol, which requires more than half of Iowa’s corn and one-fifth of the land. People know that ethanol has been in this day. Even now Monte Shaw, the executive director of the Iowa Renewable Fuel Association, made it clear as early as 2005 that grain ethanol is just a “bridge” or transition fuel and will not exist forever. With the failure of cellulosic ethanol becoming a reality, it is time to act. Unfortunately, for the environment in Iowa, the industry has never signed a “do not recover” form.
Imagine that 20 counties in Iowa have an area of ​​more than 11,000 square miles and produce renewable electricity without soil erosion, water pollution, pesticide loss, habitat loss, and greenhouse gas production due to corn planting. This huge environmental upgrade is in our grasp. Remember that land used for wind and solar power can simultaneously achieve other important environmental goals, such as restoring tall grass prairies, which will provide habitat for native animal species, including monarch butterflies, which were recently discovered in the United States Qualified fish and wildlife services for endangered species. The deep roots of perennial grassland plants tie our soils, capture and imprison greenhouse gases, and bring biodiversity back to the landscape currently dominated by only two species, corn and soybeans. At the same time, Iowa’s land walk and carbon chewing are within our power: to produce usable energy while mitigating global warming.
To realize this vision, why not first look at more than 50% of Iowa’s farmland owned by non-agricultural people? Probably investors don’t care how land generates income-a dollar of electricity is easily spent in West Des Moines, Bettendorf, Minneapolis or Phoenix, and this is where many of our farmland owners live , And one dollar comes from planting and distilling corn.
Although the policy details may be best left to others to use, we can imagine that innovative taxation or tax cuts will promote this transformation. In this field, cornfields are used by wind turbines or rebuilt prairies surrounding solar panels. replace. Yes, the property tax does help maintain our small towns and their schools, but the cultivated land in Iowa is no longer heavily taxed and it benefits from a favorable inheritance tax policy. Land leases with energy companies can or can make them competitive with the rents for field crop production, and measures can be taken to maintain our rural towns. And don’t forget that historically, Iowa’s land in the form of various farm subsidies has been a shrinking of federal taxes: since 1995, Iowa has been around $1,200 per acre, totaling more than 35 billion. Dollar. Is this the best thing our country can do? We think it is not.
Yes, we can imagine that the agricultural industrial complex strongly opposes this change in land use. After all, the land used for power generation does not require too many seeds, fuel, equipment, chemicals, fertilizers or insurance. They may cry to us. Or the lake. It’s a pity for the people of Iowa, they haven’t cared about any of them so far. Take a closer look at the work they have done in rural Iowa over the past 50 years. Is this the best thing a strong, politically connected industry can do for a small town in Iowa? We think it is not.
Renewable energy can make the rural areas of Iowa a whole new look: improve work, improve air, improve water sources, and improve climate. And the monarch.
Erin Irish is an associate professor of biology at the University of Iowa and a member of the advisory board of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture. Chris Jones is a research engineer in the IIHR-Water Science and Engineering School at the University of Iowa.