A new study finds that ethanol stimulates increased corn production "resulting in significant decreases in grassland bird populations throughout the fragile Prairie Pothole Region." In other words, ethanol is bad for birds.  The report examined five key questions:
1.  What is driving the market growth of corn ethanol?
2.  What are the habitat and environmental impacts of corn ethanol production and associated corn expansion?
3.  Where are increases in corn plantings coinciding with habitat loss?
4.  What are the implications for wildlife populations in high-change areas?
5.  What conservation programs and policies have the potential to mitigate the impacts of corn ethanol production?

The report describes the habitat in question as follows:

Prairie pothole habitat consists of tallgrass prairie, shortgrass prairie, and mixed prairie interspersed with temporary and semi-permanent wetlands. These prairies and associated wetlands support an array of treasured wildlife including waterfowl, shorebirds, and grassland birds.

This habitat is an important breeding ground for 75 percent of all North American waterfowl and 300 species of migratory birds (over 1/3 of those that live in North America). Furthermore, this area is important for carbon sequestration. The report says:

When the region's undisturbed soil is put into cultivation, it releases up to half of its carbon over 50 years of cultivation, exacerbating climate change. One 2008 study estimated that this conversion releases approximately 59.8 tons of CO2 per acre over this time span.

Here are the numbers since then:

Percent of Total Corn Harvest Used for Ethanol
2002/03: 11%
2003/04: 12%
2004/05: 11%
2005/06: 14%
2006/07: 20%
2007/08: 23%
2008/09: 30%
2009/10: 32%

In that time, we more than quadrupled the amount of corn used for ethanol, and we increased the amount of corn grown in the U.S. by nearly half (47%). A major year was 2007/08, in which ethanol production increased by 44% and corn production increased by 24%.

But as far as the birds are concerned, this is only part of the story. What really matters to wildlife is the acreage devoted to corn production, not the number of bushels harvested. (After all, some of the increases in production come from increased yield.) In 2007/08, the U.S. increased the number of acres where corn was planted by 19.4% from 78.33 million acres to 93.53 million acres. The last time we devoted that many acres to corn was the Dust Bowl. Since 2007/08, we've relaxed a bit, decreasing to about 86 million acres of corn planted in each year since then, but these are still historic highs compared to each of the past fifty years, excluding 2007/08.

Data Source: USDA ERS Feed Grains Database

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