Source: NCDA&CS, 6/24/20

As residential and commercial development spread, farmland across America is disappearing at an unprecedented rate.

According to a new American Farmland Trust report, “Farms Under Threat: The State of the States,” 11 million acres of farmland was either fragmented or completely lost between 2001 and 2016, with 4.4 million acres being among the best agricultural land in the country. In that same study, North Carolina ranks second in nation in terms of endangered farmland, behind only Texas.

“Agricultural land is essential for the continuation of our state’s $91 billion agriculture industry,” said Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler. “The loss of farmland is among the most serious issues facing our industry today, and preserving that land has been one of my top priorities since I took office.”

So how did we wind up here? It’s a complicated question to answer, but one of the main culprits is something called “low-density residential development,” where land is parceled out for construction projects that make wide areas unusable for agriculture.

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