STUDY SAYS REGION’S PRIME FARMLAND AT RISK

A new study shows prime farmland in the Great Lakes region is being lost to development. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Natalie Walston reports:

Transcript

A new study shows prime farmland in the Great Lakes region is
being lost to development. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s
Natalie Walston reports:


The study by the American Farmland Trust ranks Great lakes states at the top of a list of
states with the most rapidly disappearing prime farmland. It says between 1992 and 1997
more than 6-million acres of land nationwide ripe for growing fruits and vegetables were
paved over. Bob Wagner speaks for the non-profit group. He says one problem is the
acreage per person in a housing development has almost doubled in the past 20 years.


“That’s more land that’s needed for each household and we need to get a handle on those
kind of sprawling, fragmented development patterns.”


Wagner says Ohio ranks second in the nation for the amount of farm land lost during the
time period that was studied, while Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania and New
York state are listed among the top twenty states losing land to urban sprawl.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Natalie Walston.