Bird populations dropping in EU tied to farming policies (The Guardian)

[kpete]

How EU farming policies led to a collapse in Europe's bird population
New survey shows devastation to farmland birds caused by policies – and experts can see no sign of improvement
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/may/26/eu-farming-policies-bird-population

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Indeed, according to a new survey, the chances of encountering any one of the 36 species of farmland birds in Europe – species that also include the lapwing, the skylark and the meadow pipit – are now stunningly low. Devastating declines in their numbers have seen overall populations drop from 600 million to 300 million between 1980 and 2009, the study has discovered.

This dramatic decline represents a 50% reduction and is blamed on major changes in farming policies enforced by the EU over the last 30 years.

In order to boost food production across Europe, the wholesale ripping up of hedgerows, draining of wetlands and ploughing over of meadows has robbed farmland birds of their homes and food. Numbers of linnets, turtle doves and lapwings have crashed as a result.

via: http://www.americablog.com/2012/05/bird-populations-dropping-in-eu-tied-to.html

[NickB79]

1. Get ready for something similar to happen in the US

With farmland prices through the roof, farmers are rapidly cutting down trees and plowing over CRP land to get more acreage. Where I live (southern edge of the Twin Cities, MN), woodlands are being cleared all the time to expand farmland. My dad just sold the family farm, and the first thing the new owner did was clear-cut 30 acres of mature oak/maple/basswood/walnut forest. The fucker also drained 3 ponds and wetlands. The only consolation was that he did the wetland draining illegally, was caught, and fined $24,000.