Real Estate
Home›Real Estate›Industry›Urban sprawl is shrinking US farmland as development e…
Urban sprawl is shrinking US farmland as development expands
The American Farmland Trust estimates the US is losing 40 acres of farm and ranch land per hour to new development, with an additional projection of over 2 million acres converted to utility scale solar between 2020 and 2040.
LandThink highlights how shrinking farmland acreage is becoming a core risk to future agricultural land ownership in the United States, pointing to ongoing development pressures.
According to the American Farmland Trust, the US is losing 40 acres of farm and ranch land every hour to new development, equivalent to about 3 acres lost every minute. Since 1982, the US has converted 24 million acres of agricultural land to developed uses, while LandThink says 39% of its survey respondents cite urban sprawl, residential development, and loss of agricultural land as the biggest threat.
The outlet also links the loss of farmland to rising land prices, saying competition from housing, commercial uses, and other projects can inflate land values based on future development potential rather than agricultural productivity. LandThink notes that this dynamic can price out young and beginning farmers by tying land costs to an expected “development component.”
LandThink further points to competing land uses beyond housing, including utility scale solar, which can favor high quality farmland that is typically flat, dry, cleared, and close to infrastructure. It cites an AFT solar development modeling report projecting over 2 million agricultural acres will be converted to solar development between 2020 and 2040, with nearly half occurring on land the AFT deems nationally significant for productivity and resiliency.