The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently announced a new conservation effort to help agricultural producers provide food and habitat for monarch butterflies in the Midwest and southern Great Plains. A targeted 10-state effort by USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) will invest $4 million in 2016 to help combat their long-term and steady decline.

"Today, the iconic monarch butterfly is under pressure. Habitat loss has led to a steady decrease in their numbers," NRCS Chief Jason Weller said. "We're working to reverse that trend." Monarch populations have decreased significantly over the past two decades, in part because of the decrease in native plants like milkweed ? the sole source of food for monarch caterpillars.

Assistance is available to producers in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas and Wisconsin. These are primary states for monarch migration. NRCS will provide technical and financial assistance to help producers and conservation partners plant milkweed and nectar-rich plants along field borders, in buffers along waterways or around wetlands, in pastures and other suitable locations. Funding for this effort will come from the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and funds remaining from the former Wetland Reserve Program (WRP).

More information about this initiative can be viewed at: Monarch Habitat Development Project. (pmr)