States still preserve farmland despite recession

The recession has not been enough to stop some states from spending millions to preserve farm land from suburban sprawl. "Twenty-five states have farmland preservation programs, and nearly half of them are in the densely populated Northeast, where the loss of fields to housing developments and shopping malls has been rapid and pressing," Stephen Singer of The Associated Press reports. Connecticut increased spending on preservation efforts after losing 21 percent of farmland in less than 20 years.

"It's difficult sometimes when there are so many pressing needs," former Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell said of farm preservation just days before leaving office on Jan. 5. "It's our culture, our way of life, our farms." Advocates for farmland preservation say "efforts are needed to ensure food is available locally if the national distribution system is ever disrupted," Singer writes. "They also say it helps maintain a way of life important to many Americans."

Between 1982 and 2007 all of the 48 contiguous states lost farmland to development, reports the National Resources Inventory from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Iowa State University. "More than 11 million acres of cropland, nearly 7 million acres of pasture and 5 million acres of range land were lost to developed land in the 25-year period studied," Singer writes. "State preservation programs typically buy development rights to the land, paying farmers a set amount in exchange for a promise not to build on the land or sell it to a developer." (Read more)