US agricultural policy, land use change, and biofuels: are we driving our way to the next dust bowl?

Abstract

Lark et al (2015 Environ. Res. Lett. http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/10/4/044003 10 http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/10/4/044003 ), analyze recent shifts in US agricultural land use (2008–2012) using newly-available, high-resolution geospatial information, the Cropland Data Layer. Cropland expansion documented by Lark et al suggests the need to reform national agricultural policies in the wake of an emerging, new era of US agriculture characterized by rapid land cover/land use change.

Keywords

• land use change
• agriculture
• biofuels
• environmental policy