The state of American farmlands

American Farnland Trust  - Our analysis, the most comprehensive ever undertaken of America's agricultural lands, shows that nearly twice the area of farmland was lost than was previously known. Additional major findings, include:

• Between 1992 and 2012, we lost nearly 31 million acres of land. That's 175 acres an hour, or 3 acres every single minute
• 11 million of those acres were among the best farmland in the nation—classified as the most productive, most versatile and most resilient land
• Development disproportionately occurred on agricultural lands, with 62 percent of all development occurring on farmland
• Expanding urban areas accounted for 59 percent of the loss. Low-density residential development, or the building of houses on one- to 20-acre parcels, accounted for 41 percent