Illinois, Indiana lead in ag land losses

URBANA, Ill. — Illinois and Indiana had the highest amount of agricultural land lost to development in the Midwest over a 20-year period.

Using National Land Cover Database imagery between 2001 and 2021, Illinois lost 155,653 acres of agricultural land to development, the most among Midwest states, and Indiana lost 133,243 acres.

The findings were recently featured in the University of Illinois Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics farmdoc, authored by Ohio State University’s Mujahidul Islam, Ani Katchova and Carl Zulauf.

The NLCD, produced by the Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics consortium, uses two satellite images and other supplementary cartographic datasets to analyze land-use changes in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin. The analysis period is the earliest to the latest years in the dataset.

“According to NLCD images from 2001 and 2021, agricultural land in the eight Midwestern states decreased from 150,312,467 acres in 2001 to 148,716,812 acres in 2021, a total decline of 1,595,655 acres,” the study found.

“Of the agricultural land lost, 877,386 acres — 55% of 1,595,655 — were converted into developed land, likely due to urbanization, infrastructure expansion, or other development activities. Other agricultural land losses included conversion to forest, barren land, open water and grassland.”

Conversion to development was most important in Iowa. Development accounted for 90% of the loss of agricultural land in Iowa between 2001 and 2021.

Conversion to development accounted for the smallest of agricultural land loss in Wisconsin, Ohio and Missouri. Development’s share of total agricultural land lost was 56%, 48% and 26%, respectively, according to the authors.

Metro Areas

“To help understand the dynamics of the agricultural land-use change and aid in regional planning and development, an analysis was carried out at the Metropolitan Statistical Area level. The Office of Management and Budget defines a MSA as a geographical region consisting of a core city with ‘a population of at least 50,000′ and maintaining strong economic and social interactions between the core city and the surrounding communities,” the report noted.

“Of the agricultural land in the Midwestern states lost to development over the last two decades, 81% has occurred within MSAs.

“The share was highest in Illinois (at 89%). Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin also lost over 80% of their agricultural land to development within MSAs. The MSA share was lowest in Iowa at 69%. The share for both Missouri and Ohio was 77%.”

Among the 24 MSAs, the highest number of acres converted from agricultural to developed land was the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin MSA, with 92,673 acres converted. This MSA spans the northern part of Illinois, parts of Indiana and southeastern Wisconsin. The St. Louis MSA in Missouri and Illinois lost 15,740 acres over two decades.

The MSA with the second highest loss of agricultural land to development was the Minnesota MSA of Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington at 65,754 acres, followed by the Indiana MSA of Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson at 61,919 acres.

Defined

According to NLCD, agricultural land is defined as any area designated as cultivated cropland or pasture and hay. Cultivated cropland includes perennial woody crops such as orchards and vineyards.

Pasture and hay are areas of grasses, legumes, or grass-legume mixtures planted for livestock grazing or the production of seed or hay crops, typically on a perennial cycle.

By definition, within each land observation, cultivated cropland or pasture and hay vegetation accounts for more than 20% of total vegetation.