Abstract Compared to conventional tillage-based crop production, grass-based agriculture can support substantially more ecosystem benefits. Moreover, management intensive grazing (MIG) has the capacity to enhance grassland resilience, thereby enhancing the profitability of grass-based agriculture. The research reported here is based on a survey of 4,500 producers in the Great Plains of USA, which aimed to study the role of grazing intensity on producers’ land use decisions. We received 875 completed questionnaires, representing a 20.6% response rate of 4,250 eligible sample. Results from multivariate ordered probit modeling analysis indicated that, compared to continuous grazing (CG) users, MIG users were 11% more likely to have expanded their grassland area in the past and 13% more likely to convert cropland to grassland in the next 10 years. Other factors, including higher cattle sales, greater liability ratio, poorer land quality and regional factors, were found to significantly influence producers’ intentions to purchase and lease more grassland. However, these factors were not significantly associated with the intention to convert marginal land to grassland. Therefore, the adoption of MIG appears to be a key factor for restoring marginal croplands to permanent grassland cover to enhance the environmental benefits across the Great Plains from the social perspective.

中文翻译：

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在美国大平原边缘土地上扩大以草为基础的农业：管理集约化放牧的作用

摘要 与以耕作为基础的传统作物生产相比，以草为基础的农业可以支持更多的生态系统效益。此外，管理集约化放牧 (MIG) 有能力增强草原恢复力，从而提高草本农业的盈利能力。此处报告的研究基于对美国大平原 4,500 名生产者的调查，该调查旨在研究放牧强度对生产者土地使用决策的作用。我们收到了 875 份已完成的问卷，代表 4,250 份合格样本的回复率为 20.6%。多元有序概率模型分析结果表明，与连续放牧 (CG) 用户相比，MIG 用户过去扩大草地面积的可能性高 11%，未来 10 年将农田转为草地的可能性高 13% . 其他因素，包括更高的牛销售、更大的负债率、更差的土地质量和区域因素，被发现显着影响生产者购买和租赁更多草地的意图。然而，这些因素与将边际土地转变为草地的意图没有显着相关性。因此，从社会角度来看，采用 MIG 似乎是将边缘农田恢复为永久草地覆盖以提高整个大平原的环境效益的关键因素。