Why has the adoption of rotational grazing declined in parts of the United States?

Abstract

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  Conservation policies promote sustainable grasslands management practices, like rotational or management-intensive (RMI) grazing, in the United States.

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  The self-reported adoption of RMI grazing declined in the United States between 2007 and 2017, and few studies have investigated this trend.

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  We use panel data to estimate county-level fixed effects regressions to assess if changes in the size of cattle operations are influencing this trend. We estimate a regression for the United States, as well as regressions by Climate Hub region.

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  We find nationally, as well as within six of the eight Climate Hub regions, an increase in cattle operations with <20 head leads to a smaller increase in RMI grazing relative to an increase in cattle operations with 20-199 head. However, this effect is reversed in the Northeast.

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  Nationally, we find similar effects on RMI grazing among cattle operations with 20-199 head and ≥200 head. Still, in two of the Climate Hub regions (Midwest and Southeast), cattle operations with 20-199 head lead to greater RMI grazing adoption than cattle operations with ≥200 head. Thus, declines in RMI grazing are most strongly associated with declines in small and medium-sized cattle operations.