<P> The very dense soil plagued the first settlers who were using wooden plows, which were more suitable for loose forest soil . On the prairie the plows bounced around and the soil stuck to them . This problem was solved in 1837 by an Illinois blacksmith named John Deere who developed a steel moldboard plow that was stronger and cut the roots, making the fertile soils ready for farming . </P> <P> The tallgrass prairie has been converted into one of the most intensive crop producing areas in North America . Less than one tenth of one percent (<0.09%) of the original landcover of the tallgrass prairie biome remains . States formerly with landcover in native tallgrass prairie such as Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Missouri have become valued for their highly productive soils and are included in the Corn Belt . As an example of this land use intensity, Illinois and Iowa for the United States, rank 49th and 50th out of 50 states in total uncultivated land remaining . </P> <P> Drier shortgrass prairies were once used mostly for open - range ranching . But the development of the barbed wire in the 1870s and improved irrigation techniques, means that this region has mostly been converted to cropland and small fenced pasture as well . </P> <P> Research, by David Tilman, ecologist at the University of Minnesota, suggests that "biofuels made from high - diversity mixtures of prairie plants can reduce global warming by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere . Even when grown on infertile soils, they can provide a substantial portion of global energy needs, and leave fertile land for food production ." Unlike corn and soybeans which are both directly and indirectly major food crops, including livestock feed, prairie grasses are not used for human consumption . Prairie grasses can be grown in infertile soil, eliminating the cost of adding nutrients to the soil . Tilman and his colleagues estimate that prairie grass biofuels would yield 51 percent more energy per acre than ethanol from corn grown on fertile land . Some plants commonly used are lupine, big bluestem (turkey foot), blazing star, switchgrass, and prairie clover . </P>

Grasslands in north america are known as prairies