Farms Under Threat: The State of the States - A brand new comprehensive assessment of U.S. farmland loss by the American Farmland Trust.
The report paints a striking picture of America’s agricultural landscape— and the threats facing working farms and ranches in every state, as well as policy efforts, state by state, to slow the pace. Between 2001 and 2016, 11 million acres of farmland and ranchland were converted to urban and highly developed land use (4.1 million acres) or low-density residential land use (nearly 7 million acres). That’s equal to all the U.S. farmland devoted to fruit, nut, and vegetable production in 2017—or 2,000 acres a day paved over, built up, and converted to uses that threaten the future of agriculture. This assault on our working farms and ranches occurred despite the Great Recession, plummeting housing starts, and declining population growth. While every state has taken steps to protect their agricultural land base, they all could—and must—do more.
You can download the entire report here:
https://farmlandinfo.org/publications/farms-under-threat-the-state-of-the-states/
There's also a companion website where interactive maps allow you to zoom in on your state and locality to look at the statistics and understand the policy initiatives at work in your state that work to preserve farmland and keep farm viable. Additionally, it illustrates where policy is lacking and could be improved.
http://www.farmland.org/farmsunderthreat
The Spokane Farmland Preservation Working Group is busy building policy initiatives to slow the pace of farmland loss in Spokane County. Please support our work:
https://spokanefarmland.org/contribute-to-the-working-group-fund
As is plainly visible in this screen capture from American Farmland Trust's interactive mapping site, we have our work cut out for us in Spokane. The red indicates agricultural farmland we have lost to urban high-density development (UHD) and low-density residential development (LDR) between 2001 and 2016. Please help the Spokane Farmland Preservation Working Group slow these irreversible losses.
https://spokanefarmland.org/contribute-to-the-working-group-fund
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