Environment
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In this March 25, 2014 photo Red Angus cattle graze on native Big Bluestem grass at Daybreak Ranch near Highmore in central South Dakota. The main enterprise is a cow-calf operation on restored and native grasslands that make up a majority of the 8,000 acres at Daybreak. The habitat they provide supports clouds of pheasants, trophy bucks and other wildlife populations _ so abundant that they branched out into hosting hunters from across the country as a sideline. (AP Photo/Eric Landwehr)
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In this March 25, 2014 photo Red Angus cattle graze on native Big Bluestem grass at Daybreak Ranch near Highmore in central South Dakota. Jim Faulstich, who manages about 8,000 acres with his son-in-law, is pleased that conservation programs fared better in the new farm bill than many people expected. He’s hopeful they’ll encourage more farmers to put a priority on protecting the natural resources on their land, even if they don’t go quite as far as he has. (AP Photo/Eric Landwehr)
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In this March 25, 2014 photo Jim Faulstich stands in a field of native Big Bluestem grass with two of his dogs, Moe and Buck, at Daybreak Ranch near Highmore, SD. When the farm economy went sour in the 1980s, Faulstich realized he wasn’t operating in tune with nature and needed to change his ways to survive. He credits federal and state conservation programs for helping to make his transformation feasible, plus initiatives by wildlife habitat groups. He said the incentives in the new farm bill should help other farmers put a greater emphasis on sustainability, too, rather than focusing only on crops that are the most profitable thanks to crop insurance and commodity programs. (AP Photo/Eric Landwehr)
