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We really shouldn't be growing soybeans or corn in Great American Desert (the vast plains west of the Mississippi and east of the Rockies). That is arid land intended for grass, and then you should raise cattle and livestock on the grass, with at most occasional rotations for crops, say once every 30 years or so. That is why herds of buffalo roamed this area and only small regions were cultivated for corn, and only for a few growing cycles, before it again returned to grassland for cattle. This is how all civilizations traditionally cultivated grasslands -- as lands on which ruminants were raised, and then you drink the milk and eat the meat of the ruminants as your main source of calories. Trying to raise crops on arid cattle country requires you to deplete aquifers and then import large amounts of fertilizers because the land itself can't sustain that type of production. It can, however, sustain growing grass, with no fertilizer or water additions required. Then as the ruminants eat the grass, they fertilize the soil and the roots decompose, adding more nutrients. Do that over many generations, and you create a rich soil, and on the rich soil, a few crops can be grown, and then they need to be replaced again with grass and cattle. The decision to grow millions of acres of soybeans and corn in this desert is a short sighted policy. Milk and meat need to be food products from that region, given the climate. East of the Mississippi, there is a wetter climate, and that's where we should be growing most of our crops. |
Corn production: https://ipad.fas.usda.gov/rssiws/al/crop_production_maps/US/...