Natural Land: Lost opportunity or valuable resource?

The desire to remove these areas is well understood. Many times, they’re in the way, especially isolated tree bluffs and wetlands. As equipment gets larger and wider, it becomes more difficult and less efficient to farm around these areas. As well, old shelterbelts and fencerows prevent consolidation of neighbouring properties when they’re acquired, and are difficult to manage as they mature. As farmland becomes more and more valuable, it is often more economical to farm more of the land a producer already owns simply by removing trees or water and farming through it. And lastly, there is an area of reduced yield immediately adjacent to shelterbelts, ditches and tree bluffs.

Yet despite this, there are data going back at least 50 years demonstrating the net positive effect on yield from these nonfarmed, natural areas and shelterbelts. (See figure). Recent work in northern Alberta showed that the presence of these uncultivated spaces within 750 metres of crop had a strong positive effect on canola yield. In fact, the yield benefit was more than enough to compensate for the opportunity cost of growing trees and shrubs rather than crops.