{"id":6729,"date":"2016-08-25T11:31:05","date_gmt":"2016-08-25T15:31:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/?p=6729"},"modified":"2025-06-11T12:11:22","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T16:11:22","slug":"what-would-it-take-for-a-nebraska-corn-farmer-to-grow-milkweed-for-monarch-butterflies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/2016\/08\/25\/what-would-it-take-for-a-nebraska-corn-farmer-to-grow-milkweed-for-monarch-butterflies\/","title":{"rendered":"What would it take for a Nebraska corn farmer to grow milkweed for monarch butterflies?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"EDF
EDF is working to develop the Monarch Butterfly Habitat Exchange<\/a> to engage the agricultural community in the fight against extinction.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Virtually every farmer and rancher in America has room for conservation on their land. But deciding whether or not to enroll acres in a conservation program requires just as much business sense as deciding which crops to grow on other acres. It\u2019s a matter of cost and return on investment.<\/p>\n

My team and I traveled to Nebraska earlier this month to meet with a few corn and soybean farmers to get a sense of what the costs and benefits might be of dedicating some acres \u2013 namely marginal lands with low crop productivity, as well as roadsides and field edges \u2013 to growing milkweed habitat for the monarch butterfly. What we found was that there is no one-size-fits-all approach.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about more than just the environment\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gale Larson is a retired corn farmer near St. Paul, Nebraska, who rents out portions of his property for farming and grazing. A few years ago, Gale decided to enroll a significant portion of his property into the Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) to provide high-quality aquatic wetland habitat to support local plants and wildlife.<\/p>\n

\"Gale
Gale Larson stands next to former cropland that now provides habitat to monarch butterflies and other local wildlife.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cSomebody’s got to take care of this stuff and I had the opportunity to do it, so I did it,\u201d Gale said. Gale added that he wants to leave a good legacy for his kids and grandkids. But in the meantime, he is enjoying the scenery.<\/p>\n

\u201cI enjoy walking out here with my dog and chasing down pheasants and quail,\u201d Gale said. \u201cIt\u2019s about more than just the environment. It\u2019s pretty to look at. I have friends from town who come out and they appreciate it, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gale coordinated with local USDA biologists and pollinator habitat experts from Pheasants Forever to maximize the conservation potential of his WRP acres. In addition to taking the land out of corn production, Gale planted a high-quality seed mixture with over 200 species of plants designed for his soil type. Using prescribed fire and cattle as management tools, Gale can keep the land rich in biodiversity, attracting bees, butterflies and birds.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you want to expand conservation opportunities for landowners, you have to work with the farmer or producer because it’s his livelihood. And there are things that farmers can do without any hassle,\u201d Gale said. \u201cSomehow you have to blend what’s good for the landowner with what\u2019s good for the species.\u201d<\/p>\n

That became clear when we visited Paul Kenny.<\/p>\n

Making dollars and sense<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Paul
Paul Kenny (center) poses for a group photo with staff from EDF and Pheasants Forever.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

About an hour\u2019s drive west from Gale\u2019s farm is Paul Kenny\u2019s farm, which spans 4,000 acres in Amherst, Nebraska. The property has been in Paul\u2019s family since 1882 and has grown into a family business supported by Paul\u2019s three sons.<\/p>\n

Both a savvy businessman and a steward of the land, Paul makes decisions about his farm, from seed type to grazing rotations, based on return on investment, as well as on sustainability. So in thinking about what it would take to dedicate some of his property to monarch conservation, he was honest about what would work for him at the scale of his operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cA third of an acre isn\u2019t going to be worth the trouble for me or any farmer,\u201d Paul said. \u201cBut multiple small patches might work,\u201d or ideally a larger area that isn\u2019t already utilized.<\/p>\n

Paul drove us to a viewpoint on his property where we could look out at a vast number of acres currently enrolled in corn production. Off to the right Paul pointed out a small hill covered in grass and trees. No corn. No cattle. We thought collectively: Might that be a good place to plant milkweed? <\/em>\u00a0It might, but it would require some extra work and possibly extra equipment \u2013 all things Paul might consider investing in if offered the right incentives.<\/p>\n

More learning to be done<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Pete
Pete Berthelsen, a biologist and pollinator expert from Pheasants Forever, shows me some high quality pollinator habitat he planted and manages in St. Paul, Nebraska.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As my colleagues at EDF and I, along with our partners in the science, ag and conservation communities, work to develop solutions for engaging large-scale agriculture in the effort to recover monarch butterflies, we will continue to work with landowners like Gale and Paul to understand precisely how and where investments can be directed to get the most bang for the buck, and for the butterfly.<\/p>\n

The conservation potential is there, it\u2019s just a matter of finding it and tapping into the right places at the right time with the right approach. I am hopeful that these relationships will contribute to greater understanding and greater opportunity for monarch conservation.<\/p>\n

Our next stops? Iowa and Minnesota.<\/p>\n

Related:<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Monarch butterflies get help from Texas ranch >><\/a><\/p>\n

Why two California farms give me hope for the monarch butterfly >><\/a><\/p>\n

Monarchs still need milkweed, and farmers are growing it >><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Virtually every farmer and rancher in America has room for conservation on their land. But deciding whether or not to enroll acres in a conservation program requires just as much business sense as deciding which crops to grow on other acres. It\u2019s a matter of cost and return on investment. My team and I traveled …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55145,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[120554],"tags":[234,56,84998,383,67067,75692,71881,71802,85000,421,84999,569],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-6729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-agriculture","tag-agriculture-tag","tag-conservation","tag-corn-farming","tag-environmental-defense-fund","tag-habitat-exchange-2","tag-monarch-butterfly","tag-nebraska","tag-nrcs","tag-pheasants-forever","tag-usda","tag-wetlands-reserve-program","tag-wildlife"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55145"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6729"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6729\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15805,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6729\/revisions\/15805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6729"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=6729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}