Tassels and Prairie Strips - private farm near Rowley, IA
Prairie Strips Stitch Habitat Back Together
By Rachel Holt, QF Regional Communications Specialist
Photos Courtesy of Iowa State University STRIPS Program
Rows of corn and soybeans stretch across the Midwest like a sprawling sea — a monoculture of crops that leaves little room for wildlife habitat. These crops are the backbone of modern agriculture, but they've increasingly pushed species like bobwhite quail to the margins, and, in many instances, erased habitat completely.
Yet, amid the monoculture of row crops, prairie strips rise like an oasis of wildflowers and swaying native grasses — bringing balance, connectivity, and beauty to the landscape.
Blooming Prairie Strip at the ISU Armstrong Research Farm
Prairie strips are exactly what you might imagine — strips of reconstructed tallgrass prairie in agricultural croplands. This management practice is often used to combat biodiversity loss and environmental damage associated with row-crop agriculture.
Prairie strips can provide a myriad of benefits by reducing soil erosion, improving soil and water quality, providing wildlife habitat, and simply adding beauty to the landscape.
As farming shifts toward precision agriculture — using technology and data to optimize field-level management — prairie strips offer an innovative solution for boosting both efficiency and sustainability.
Not all acres yield equally: areas like field edges often produce less but can provide significant habitat value. Farmers and landowners can reduce input costs by installing prairie strips in these low-yield, high-conservation-value spots while maximizing ecological benefits. It's a win-win for both farmers and wildlife.
As a Precision Agriculture and Conservation Specialist with Quail Forever in Iowa, Stephanie Nelson sees prairie strips as a highly adaptable tool. Unlike some practices that are limited by geography or acreage, prairie strips can be seamlessly integrated into areas of fields that aren't pulling their weight.
“Prairie strips are a very nimble practice,” Nelson said. “It's a great tool for producers who want to target marginal acres but also make the rest of their farming operation more efficient. I like the prairie strip practice because it can be tucked into areas that are not performing well. It's very versatile in that way.”
Prairie strips are often placed along field contours to prevent erosion and use diverse native seed mixes. They vary in width from 30 to 120 feet, depending on how much runoff they need to handle. Crafted to fit a landowner's property like a puzzle piece, they can be placed alongside field edges, in terrace channels, along waterways, or next to pivot corners.
The idea for prairie strips took root in 2003 at Iowa State University, when researchers launched the STRIPS project (Science-Based Trials of Rowcrops Integrated with Prairie Strips) to combat soil erosion and declining water quality in corn and soybean fields.
While exploring ways to tackle these issues, the STRIPS team needed vegetation that would do more than just grow — it had to make a real impact. So, they chose something that historically blanketed the Midwest — tallgrass prairie.
Once covering 170 million acres of North America, less than 4% of tallgrass prairie remains. Prairie strips provide a glimpse into the Midwest's past.
Tim Youngquist, Farmer Laison with STRIPS, said tallgrass species were chosen because they are deep-rooted and stiff-stemmed, making them durable to withstand harsh wind and rain, reduce soil erosion, and filter water. As a bonus, being diverse, perennial, and native to the Midwest, tallgrass prairies provide a rich habitat for pollinators and wildlife.
Putting native prairie to the test, STRIPS set up an experiment in 2007 at Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge in Prairie City, Iowa. There, they tested a variety of field designs – from fields fully planted in row crops to ones that mixed in strips of native prairie. Some fields had just 10% prairie, while others had up to 20%, giving researchers a range of comparisons to see how these strips affected soil, water, and wildlife.
“Our research found putting about 10% of prairie into a field is the magic number,” Youngquist said. “By using that as a guide, if you have an 80-acre field, you can target eight acres that are either environmentally sensitive or lower producing and get a multitude of benefits.”
Rick Cruse, Iowa State professor in the Department of Agronomy and Director of the Iowa Water Center, has studied soil erosion rates as affected by rainfall, soil type, soil slope, and management for many years.
Cruse explained that when rainfall exceeds the soil's ability to absorb water, runoff carries soil particles downhill. Without intervention, it continues until it slows or exits the field, depositing sediment into waterways. Prairie strips help by intercepting rainfall and stabilizing the soil, allowing sediment to settle and stay within the field.
To better understand how prairie strips affect erosion, a research project conducted by STRIPS placed large funnel-like instruments called hydraulic flumes into different fields to collect runoff and analyze sediment loss.
Researchers installed three flumes: one in a field planted entirely in row crops, another in a field with 90% crops and 10% prairie, and a third in fully restored prairie. The results were staggering. With just 10% of the field converted to prairie, sediment runoff was reduced by 95%. In the 100% prairie site, runoff was nearly eliminated.
This reduction in runoff has implications far beyond erosion control.
Fertilizers used in conventional row cropping are often rich in nitrates — compounds made of nitrogen and oxygen that are essential for plant growth and photosynthesis. However, without proper ground cover, these nutrients are swept away by rainwater, leaving the soil nutrient-deficient and waterways polluted.
Research from STRIPS found that incorporating prairie into just 10% of a crop field dramatically reduced nutrient loss — by 90% for nitrogen and 85% for phosphorus. The native plants' deep root systems not only stabilize the soil but also act as natural filters, capturing nutrients before they escape into streams or rivers.
And while prairie strips excel at safeguarding, they also restore what's been lost.
In 2017, the USDA reported that 53% of the U.S. was used for agricultural purposes, with an estimated 440 million acres planted in monoculture. That scale of single-crop farming has destroyed wildlife habitat across the country. By reintroducing a mix of native grasses and wildflowers into row crop fields, prairie strips are returning connectivity and biodiversity to the land.
Diversified Farm with Prairie Strips - private farm near Rowley, IA
As fragments of habitat vanish across the Midwest, prairie strips stitch the landscape back together, creating corridors for wildlife movement.
For bobwhite quail, this connectivity can mean the difference between isolation and survival. Bobwhites are non-migratory and have limited home ranges — often less than 80 acres. When habitat patches are disconnected, populations become stranded, unable to recolonize or escape poor conditions.
Prairie strips help solve that. By threading habitat through row crops, they offer corridors between blocks of cover, allowing quail to move, interbreed, and access resources throughout the year. This kind of landscape-scale connectivity is critical to sustaining healthy, genetically diverse populations.
Even better, these prairie wildlife corridors consist of native species of grass and forbs, which serve as habitat and food for wildlife throughout the year.
Nick Thompson, Senior Farm Bill Biologist with Quail Forever in southeast Iowa, said prairie strip seed mixes in the state must be 100% native and contain a 50/50 mix of grass and forbs. Each mix must support at least two flowering forb species blooming in the spring, summer, and fall. On average, Thompson includes around 50 different plant species in a single seed mix.
“We really hammer home natives and focus on the quality of the seed,” Thompson said. “We make sure we have plenty of early bloomers that can out-compete any of our introduced cool-season grasses. Having those early blooming species brings in the early insects, which then provide food for quail and pheasants. If a prairie strip is done thoughtfully, it can provide benefits for a huge swath of wildlife.”
Youngquist said a biologist once told him “A quail being born into a prairie strip was like being born in a Golden Corral.” With so many different plants attracting a wide range of insects, prairie strips offer an all-you-can-eat buffet for pollinators and grassland birds alike.
Additionally, prairie strips provide excellent brood-rearing habitat for grassland birds. Grasses such as little bluestem, side oat gramma, and dropseed provide cover from predators while creating enough space for chicks and adults to navigate efficiently.
In a world of habitat fragmentation, Thompson and Youngquist both stressed the importance of creating interconnected habitat.
“There's not a lot that's making its living specifically within row crops,” Youngquist said. “By having just 5% or 10% in prairie, you're giving these creatures a space where they can complete their life cycle. Any amount of prairie, whether it's in your front yard, your backyard, or your field, is going to benefit wildlife and pollinators.”
Prairie Strips next to Corn - private farm near Rowley, IA
For quail, a prairie strip isn't just cover — it's a food source, a refuge, and a highway all in one.
In 2018, prairie strips marked a major milestone when the Farm Bill made them eligible for cost-share support through USDA programs like the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). This opened the door for more farmers and landowners to adopt prairie strips by easing financial burdens and offering technical assistance.
However, while the benefits of prairie strips are clear, there are practical considerations that leave farmers hesitant.
Youngquist said farmers worry about the risk of taking land out of production or complicating field operations. While government programs help offset costs, he said the financial tradeoff remains a hurdle as producers generate more income with cash crops than prairie strips. And because participation is voluntary, the decision requires a long-term perspective on soil health and conservation benefits, which Youngquist deemed a difficult business.
Beyond the financial challenges, prairie strips also come with time and management. While they are relatively low-maintenance once established, Youngquist said getting them started requires patience and some active oversight to ensure successful growth.
“It takes three to five years to get what you think of in your mind as a prairie with nice blooming wildflowers and flowing grasses,” Youngquist said. “You can't just plant it then walk away and hope for the best.”
Despite its challenges, Youngquist said prairie strips can be extremely flexible under CRP, even deeming it “the most flexible CRP program in the history of CRP.”
Under certain CRP allowances, Youngquist said farmers can use prairie strips as turn rows, allowing vehicles like combines and sprayers to pivot on them. Additionally, some CRP allowances permit incidental grazing — meaning under certain conditions, cattle can access both the crop residue and the strips themselves to graze without the need for fencing.
Some farmers even consider the increased beauty and wildlife in their fields a worthy return.
“Farmers are often surprised by just the beauty of prairie strips,” Nelson said. “A lot of people love hearing the insects and birds and seeing the life that comes back to those areas. People have been astonished by the wildlife they see and how such a small area of prairie can make a difference.”
Prairie strips are not an overnight fix, but a start to bringing vitality back to the land. By weaving prairie into the fabric of monoculture, farmers are finding a way to enhance both habitat and their operations, showing that small changes can yield significant rewards.
“We're in the middle where we're trying to find space for prairie and space for habitat, but then also recognizing that farming is a business,” Youngquist said. “Finding a compromise and having this conservation with a purpose has been rewarding. There are a lot of areas where a little bit of prairie goes a long way.”
One ribbon at a time, prairie strips rebuild the bridges between habitat islands, offering food, cover, and connection for quail and countless other species. They won't turn the tide alone, but they prove that even in a sea of corn, there's room for something wild.