Originally Posted by
Oldtimr
You would never, ever get away with mandating that farmers do not farm areas of their property in America, nor would I ever want to see that. It is called Liberty and freedom. However we do have fereral programs that pay farmers to not farm some of their ground and plant it in native grasses for food and cover for wildlife and erosion control. This kind of grasses:
Flat as a table top mono culture isn't called liberty and freedom IMO. It is more like a blight and ecologic Desert for most wildlife. Besides most of the wild islands are marginal farming areas anyway, side slopes, low soggy spots, stony hills, very poor soil etc. It may be an inconvenience at harvest time, but seems like an acceptable compromise.
The Germans don't have all the answers, but they have been at the problem a whole lot longer than the U.S. has. Many of the policies are holdovers from around 600 A.D.
I've seen the Germans seriously screw it up on numerous occasions. Like building an interstate right through, a many thousand year old, migration route to a mineral rich sump. Trace minerals the Deer need to survive. And then they freaked out and had most of the Deer killed off after a couple of dozen people died on the new stretch of interstate in a period of months after hitting Deer with their cars.
The wild island project seems to be working out, mostly, but the long term ramifications may not yet be apparent.