The Use of Prime Agricultural Land for Nonagricultural Purposes in the United States

A study conducted by the Soil Conservation Service in 1975 identified certain land in Minnesota as noncropland which had high or medium potential for conversion to cropland within the next 10 to 15 years.

This land was included as part of an 111-million-acre cropland reserve which the Service estimated existed nationwide. About 78 million acres of the reserve were classified as having high potential for conversion to cropland, considering commodity prices, development costs, and production costs. The remaining 33 million acres were classified as having medium potential for conversion to cropland. In estimating the acreage of potential cropland, Service field representatives gathered and analyzed information from sample areas in 506 counties throughout the country. Various points within these sample areas were assessed as to their potential for conversion to cropland. Visits to the 44 sample points in 5 counties in Minnesota, which had been classified as having high or medium potential for conversion, showed that two of the points had been converted to cropland, but there was little likelihood that the other 42 points represented land that could or would be converted to cropland if needed in the foreseeable future.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

Director: No director on record Team: No team on record Phone: No phone on record