Farm Land Conversion Hasn't Threatened Production

November 9, 1999

Land continues to be converted to developed uses, such as urban and suburban, but farm land conversion does not threaten the country's ability to produce food and fiber, says a new study from USDA. But conversion is a concern for other reasons.

Among them are protecting unique farm land, maintaining the strength of local communities and agricultural economies, preserving wetlands and preventing urban sprawl. A variety of programs has been established in recent decades to slow the conversion of farm land to developed uses, says the study. All 50 states provide preferential tax assessment for agricultural land. State programs to purchase agricultural conservation easements now have protected more than half a million acres of farm land and additional acreage is protected by local programs.

Since 1996, the Federal Farmland Protection Program has obligated $35 million to help state and local programs protect 70,000-80,000 acres of farm land. As of June 1999 about 33,000 acres have been protected with a federal share of $15 million and matching funding of $44 million.

Despite land shifts for other uses over time, the amount of crop land in the United States has remained steady at 440-480 million acres over the last 50 years. The amount of land in farms has declined by about 200 million acres, but most of that represents shifts between farm land and other rural land as land owners drop out of farming. This land is not "lost" and is not converted to urban or developed uses immediately, although eventually it may be urbanized, the study says.

The proportion of crop land classified as "prime" has remained "remarkably stable," says USDA. Only about 1% of all U.S. prime soil (and about 0.6% of all non-prime land) was converted to urban use between 1982 and 1992. Prime soil is concentrated in the central United States but developed area is increasing most rapidly in Sunbelt states such as Florida and the Southwest.

The entire study, Cropland Use and Urbanization, is available on the Internet at