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America Losing Farmland By the Minute By J.R. Pegg WASHINGTON, DC, October 17, 2002 (ENS) - Inefficient land use is accelerating the loss of U.S. farmlands to a rate of nearly two acres per minute. More than six million acres of U.S. agricultural land, an area roughly equivalent to the state of Maryland, was developed between 1992 and 1997, according to new analysis of land use data by the American Farmland Trust. This figure is 51 percent higher than in the period of 1982-1992.
"This problem is getting worse," said American Farmland Trust president Ralph Grossi. "Every state is losing some of its best farm and ranchland along with the agricultural economy, wildlife habitat and water recharge that the land supports." The inefficiency in land use policy is reflected by the report's findings that although the U.S. population grew by 17 percent from 1982 to 1997, urbanized land increased by 47 percent during the same 15 year period. In addition, developed acreage per person has nearly doubled in the past 20 years, and housing lots larger than 10 acres have accounted for 55 percent of land developed since 1994. This conversion is even more of a concern, Grossi said, because it is increasingly affecting prime farmland, which was lost 30 percent faster, proportionally, than the rate for non-prime rural land between 1992 and 1997. Food production is also increasingly in the path of development, the study found. More than 85 percent of U.S. fruits and vegetables, and 63 percent of U.S. dairy products, are produced in close proximity to urbanized areas.
Texas, the nation's second leading agricultural producing state, suffered the greatest loss between 1992 and 1997. More than 330,000 acres were converted in the state, a 42 percent increase in the rate of loss over the previous five year period. Of the top 20 states on the list, Arkansas suffered the largest increase in loss versus the prior five year period. From 1992 to 1997, the state lost 71,600 prime acres, a 254 percent increase over the prior period. The study, "Farming On the Edge: Sprawling Development Threatens America's Best Farmland," analyzed land use based on agricultural and census data for the five year period from 1992 to 1997. This is the "latest and best data" available for study, according to American Farmland Trust spokesman Jimmy Daukus. A strategy to combat the rapid rate of farmland loss, the report concluded, must include additional funding for agricultural conservation easements, increased and better targeted conservation efforts and funding, as well as improved urban development and growth planning. The battle to protect farmland from development will not be easy, Daukus added, but there are some positive signs. The federal Farmland Protection Program, which is the federal source of easement funds, has been allocated $1 billion over the next 10 years.
The program requires a 50/50 match from states or local communities, something the trust hopes will leverage even more farmland protection. "This creates an incentive for states to expand existing programs and to develop new programs," Daukus said, adding that the cooperation of local, state and federal organizations is vital to farmland protection. "We've seen success and seen good things happen in Pennsylvania and Maryland, who have been at this for 20 years, as well as in Massachusetts and California," Daukas said. "We've seen very good local programs in Marin County in California, and in Montgomery County in Maryland. There are a lot of local successes but it is a very big problem. Once the farmland is gone, it's gone for good." Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2002. All rights reserved. |
Urban sprawl around Minneapolis devours rural land. (Photo courtesy 
These berry crops have brief growing seasons and are vulnerable to insects, disease, and birds. (Two photos by Scott Bauer courtesy 
Precious farmland needs conservation. 