Corn buntings have suffered dramatic declines from cereal farming intensification that eliminated the mixed farming systems they depended on, with welfare challenges from food scarcity and habitat loss.
Corn bunting welfare has been devastated by the elimination of the traditional mixed farming systems they evolved with. The shift to early-cutting silage from late-cut hay destroyed nesting habitat by cutting fields before chicks fledge. Herbicide use eliminated the weed-seed resources that adults and chicks depend on for winter food. The loss of autumn stubble from year-round cultivation eliminates the winter seed food that sustained flocks between harvests. Adults and chicks in areas of high agricultural intensity face chronic food shortages that cause slow nutritional decline. The extreme population collapse means that welfare impacts at individual farms can have significance for the entire remaining regional population.