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Disappearing Open Space

Illinois lost 67,900 acres of prime farmland to development from 1987-1992, the fifth highest rate in the country, according to the American Farmland Trust. The loss accelerated to 160,900 acres from 1992-1997, a 137 percent increase. Much of the farmland loss is to lakefront development, housing, and new subdivisions.10

“There is a lot of farmland conversion that has occurred in the state the last 10 to 15 years,” says the supervisor the Illinois Department of Agriculture’s office of farmland protection. “If the population continues to increase, our reliance on production agriculture will continue to increase, and we could see a crisis down the road.”11

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