Farm Land Conversion More Than Doubles

December 7, 1999

Vice President Al Gore Monday released new figures showing that farm land and other open spaces converted to other uses more than doubled in recent years. Nearly 16 million acres were converted to urban and other uses from 1992-97; the average rate of 3.2 million acres a year is more than twice the rate of 1.4 million acres a year from 1982-92.

"These new figures confirm what communities across America already know: too much of our precious open space is being gobbled up by sprawl," said Gore. "We need to help communities grow in ways that work. We can build more livable communities with a strong economy and a high quality of life without forcing family farmers off the farm."

The figures show that the loss of farm land no longer is centered around metropolitan areas but affects growing numbers of small and medium sized cities in virtually every part of the country. States with the highest acreage conversion rates are California, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, North and South Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Texas.

Gore said the conversion of agricultural land does not threaten the nation's food supply, but haphazard development patterns result in fragmentation of agricultural land, the loss of family farms that raise fresh produce for urban markets and the elimination of vital open spaces.

He said the fiscal year 2001 budget proposal to Congress will propose a significant increase in USDA's Farmland Protection Program that provides resources to state and local governments to enter into voluntary agreements with farmers to preserve farm land. Typically, the funds are used to purchase conservation easements that ensure farm land remains in agriculture and is not developed for other purposes.