If you love something, set it on fire. Especially if the thing you love is a healthy pasture. For grasslands, fire is a crucial part of a healthy ecosystem and an important tool for a rancher. Not only can a properly timed burn add pounds on to your livestock, but it also kills off invasive shrubs and trees in a cost-effective manner.
The fight against this woody encroachment is a long-lasting and far-reaching affair, impacting ranches from the Flint Hills to Clark County.
This struggle between ranchers and invasives highlights the importance of conservation in agriculture. Ranchers certainly want trees off their property for economic purposes, such as increased forage and weight gain, but just as important is their desire to be a good steward of the land. The working lands of Kansas provide more than just yields and dollars to the Sunflower State. They also provide clean water, aquifer recharge, wildlife habitat, and many other natural services.
It is both an honor and a burden to steward these resources for future Kansans, and generations did before us. As I have strived to do my best in this role, I have been grateful for the support of federal farm bill’s conservation programs.
Our ranch in southwest Kansas has been enrolled in several farm bill programs, including when we made the switch to rotational grazing. For those unfamiliar with rotational grazing, it is the practice of dividing a pasture into smaller paddocks and moving cattle through these paddocks in a timing that provides for the grass to have full recovery between grazing events.
Many range schools and universities have promoted rotational grazing as a best management practice. I can personally testify that it was the cornerstone of our ranch’s revival. We were able to profitably increase our stocking rates by 40% and established healthy root systems that provided a full recovery after the entire ranch burned in the 2017 Starbuck wildfire.
However, we could never have done it by ourselves. Rotational grazing requires substantial infrastructure such as interior fencing and water structures. We were able to receive cost-share on these practices from the Environmental Quality Incentive Program that made the change feasible. The program has also provided cost-share to manage brush.
The Grassland Conservation Reserve Program recently helped us improve our ability to manage through drought. Partner support has also been critical because these programs need more funding for higher cost-share and incentive rates, and modernized payment limits. Additionally, when our family decided that we wanted to make sure our ranch remained productive intact rangeland forever, we were fortunate to be able to enroll in the Agriculture Conservation Easement Program ensuring ranching opportunities were available for the next generations.
The demand for these programs is high among Kansas producers. According to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, only about 40% of Kansas EQIP applications have been funded in recent years. What investments are made into the state are tremendously impactful. A recent analysis shows that farm bill conservation programs in Kansas support 1,000 jobs annually while driving $45.1 million in household income and $74.9 million towards the state’s total economic production.
Conservation programs were also shown to be a productive investment, providing $1.35 in return for every $1 invested. According to the Congressional Budget Office, that is a 30% higher return than the average federal dollar spent.
While Congress is continuing its work and deliberate on the next farm bill, it is imperative they recognize the importance these programs have for Kansas. We are a state full of agricultural private lands, and conservation programs are the largest and most consequential investment into maintaining the economic and natural services those lands provide.
I ask that our Kansas elected officials continue their support of fully funded conservation programs while delivering us a new farm bill. It is what’s best for Kansas. In the meantime, we will keep burning the things we love.
Bill Barby ranches in Clark and Comanche counties. The Barby Ranch was the recipient of the 2024 Kansas Leopold Conservation Award
