WWF's 2026 Plowprint Report - Policy Breakout

WWF’s Plowprint Report Policy Breakout outlines the federal, state, and Tribal policy changes needed to reduce grassland conversion and accelerate restoration across North America.

This expanded policy section draws on WWF’s 2026 Plowprint Report, the most comprehensive edition we’ve ever produced. The report found that an estimated 1.8 million acres of North American grasslands and other open lands were converted to row crop agriculture in 2023. Built on the most sweeping revision to our methods in the analysis’s history, it extends the U.S. historical lookback to 1986 and is the first continental Plowprint, with models built independently for the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Because the methods have changed, this year’s estimates should not be compared directly with those in earlier reports.

The Policy Breakout goes deeper on solutions, with five priorities: keeping grasslands intact, restoring marginal cropland to grass, strengthening conservation delivery for cattle and bison grazers, advancing landscape-scale conservation, and supporting Tribal leadership and food sovereignty. Specific recommendations include expanding Sodsaver, reforming crop insurance incentives, strengthening the Conservation Reserve Program, and passing the Indian Buffalo Management Act.