Plowprint Report
WWF's Plowprint Report monitors grasslands plow-up across the Great Plains, assesses agricultural impacts on biodiversity, and guides sustainable land use planning.
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For nearly a decade, World Wildlife Fund’s Plowprint Report has provided partners like you with a trusted, annual analysis of grassland conversion across the Great Plains. As a result, you might be surprised to see that this year’s report is different. Due to changes in the underlying government data that the Plowprint relies on to examine trends over time, we made the decision to pause the 2025 analysis. We are taking this time to thoughtfully review other datasets to ensure continued improvement in consistency and reliability in future reports. This includes exploring tools and methods that simply weren’t available 10 years ago when the Plowprint Report was born. For example, multiple products now look back further in time than the 2008 benchmark of the USDA Cropland Data Layer. For example, the National Land Cover Data Dataset now goes back to 1985 with annual updates.
In addition, we recognize the need for a gradient of intactness—pristine lands to those under heavy management—that provide valuable benefits to wildlife and humans. These include restored grasslands and lands managed with environmentally friendly practices. It is vitally important to recognize the contribution of these lands to habitat, ecosystem services, and wildlife connectivity, among other benefits. Our updated Plowprint methodology will consider ways to incorporate this gradient of intactness into the analysis.
We are deeply aware that our pause in issuing an analysis doesn’t change the fact that grasslands are still being plowed up and those who depend on them are impacted. Our 2024 report documented nearly 2 million acres of grasslands eliminated for crops in the Great Plains. Younger producers struggle to assume the role of grassland stewards as the remaining intact grasslands are sold at record-high prices. Grassland-dependent bird species continue to face the steepest population declines of any group of birds. Pollinators that rely on grasslands, like the Southern Plains bumble bee, have reached endangered status under the IUCN Red List.