Cropland Trends Across the Nation

摘要

Global agricultural demand spurred expansion of U.S. cropland use over the last decade to a record 391 million acres in 1981, 4 million acres more than the previous record established in 1949. The contraction of cropland use after and subsequent expansion in the seventies was accompanied by major regional shifts in the pattern of agricultural land use revealed by analysis of county data over the period 1949-78. Factors such as regional comparative advantage and natural resource development triggered regional expansion and contraction of cropland use.