Keeping Farmland in the Hands of Farmers: How States and Individuals Can Protect Agricultural Land

Since the end of World War II, agriculture productivity in the United States has nearly tripled. However, the number of farms across the country is lower now than at any time since the mid-19th century. Coupled with the fact that the average farmer in the United States is 58 years old, agricultural land today may not be used as farmland tomorrow.

Between 2001 and 2021, the amount of agricultural land no longer used for farming was reduced by 11 million acres, much of which was sold for development. This is especially the case in coastal areas where the pressure to sell to developers is higher. If this trend continues across the South, the American Farmland Trust projects that farmland in Texas will be reduced by nearly 2.2 million acres by 2040. In North Carolina, it could be reduced by almost 1.2 million; in Missouri, nearly 568,000 acres are expected to be developed.