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Is AppHarvest the Future of Farming?
In this video from Motley Fool Live, recorded on Jan. 28, Industry Focus host Nick Sciple and Motley Fool contributor Lou Whiteman discuss AppHarvest, one such SPAC that is looking to disrupt the agriculture industry. Here are the details on what AppHarvest wants to do, and a look at whether the company represents the future of farming.
Special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, are red-hot right now, with investors clamoring to get into promising young companies.
In this video from Motley Fool Live, recorded on Jan. 28, Industry Focus host Nick Sciple and Motley Fool contributor Lou Whiteman discuss AppHarvest, one such SPAC that is looking to disrupt the agriculture industry. Here are the details on what AppHarvest wants to do, and a look at whether the company represents the future of farming.
Nick Sciple: One last company I wanted to talk about, Lou, and this is one I think it's -- you pay attention to, but not one I'm super excited to run in and buy. It was a company called AppHarvest. It's coming public via a [SPAC] this year. This vertical farming space. We talked about Gladstone Land buying traditional farmland. AppHarvest is taking a very different approach, trying to lean into some of the ESG-type movements.
Lou Whiteman: Yeah. Let's look at this. It probably wouldn't surprise you that the U.S. is the biggest global farm exporter as we said, but it might surprise you that the Netherlands, the tiny little country, is No. 2. The way they do that is tech: Greenhouse farm structure. AppHarvest has taken that model and brought it to the U.S. They have, I believe, three farms in Appalachia. The pitches can produce 30x the yields using 90% less water. Right now, it's mostly tomatoes and it is early-stage. I don't own this stock either. I love this idea. There's some reasons that I'm not buying in right now that we can get into. But this is fascinating to me. We talked about making the world a better place. This is the company that we need to be successful to make the world a better place. The warning on it is that it is a SPAC. So it's not public yet. Right now, I believe N-O-V-S. That deal should close soon. [Editor's note: The deal has since closed.] I'm not the only one excited about it. I tend not to like to buy IPOs and new companies anyway. I think the caution around buying into the excitement applies here. There is a Martha Stewart video on their website talking up the company, which I love Martha Stewart, but that's a hype level that makes me want to just watch and see what they produce. This is just three little farms in Appalachia right now and a great idea. This was all over my watchlist. I would imagine I would love to hold it at some point, but just be careful because this is, as we saw SPACs last year in other areas, people are very excited about this.
Sciple: Yeah. I think, like we've said, for a lot of these companies, the prospects are great. I think when you look at the reduced water usage, better, environmentally friendly, all those sorts of things. I like that they are in Appalachia. As someone who is from the South, I like it when more rural areas get some people actually investing money there. But again, there's a lot of execution between now and really getting to a place where this is the future of farming and they're going to reach scale and all those sorts of things. But this is a company I'm definitely going to have my radar on and pay attention to as they continue to report earnings. Because you can tell yourself a story about how this type of vertical farming, indoor farming disrupts this traditional model, can be more efficient, cleaner, etc. Something to continue paying attention to as we have more information, because this company, like you said, Lou, isn't all the way public yet. We still got to have this SPAC deal finalized and then we get all our fun SEC filings and quarterly calls and all those sorts of things. Once we have that, I will be very much looking forward to seeing what the company has to say.
Whiteman: Right. Just to finish up along too, the interesting thing here is that it is a proven concept because it has worked elsewhere. The downside of that is that it needed to work there. Netherlands just doesn't have -- and this is an expensive proposition to get started, to get going. There's potential there, but in a country blessed with almost seemingly unlimited farmland for now, for long term it makes sense. But in the short term, it could be a hard thing to really get up and running. I think you're right, just one to watch.
Important Tips For Designing A Hydroponic Production Facility
Growers should always choose a properly sized and engineered system. The reality is that the budget will drive many of the growers’ decisions
Why Do You Keep Saying Buffer Capacity?
For anyone that has called me to discuss the design of their new vertical farm or greenhouse, they have probably grown quickly tired of me using the term buffer capacity. But, of everything I have learned over the past 25 years, the understanding of “buffer capacity” might possibly be the most important. It makes your production system easier to manage, more predictable and more stable. All traits that can be found in all successful farming and commercial horticulture production facilities. (You might remember my recent article on simplicity, well this goes right back to that.)
Let’s start by agreeing that I am not properly using the term buffer capacity which is normally defined as the moles of an acid or base necessary to change the pH of a solution by 1, divided by the pH change and the volume of buffer in liters; it is a unitless number. A buffer resists changes in pH due to the addition of an acid or base though consumption of the buffer.
Now let us focus on how we can manipulate that definition to fit the needs of designing a greenhouse or an indoor farm. When referring to buffer capacity in our production environment we are referring to our system’s ability to keep key elements (temperature, humidity, wind, nutrients, light, CO2, oxygen, water) from fluctuating unless we as the grower determine that we want it to and have the ability to manipulate these key variables while keeping the others in balance.
The ability to keep key elements from fluctuating unless the grower determines that the variables should be adjusted to produce a crop response. Adjustments should be met with the abilities to keep all other elements in balance.
For this article I am going to use (3) examples of how designing “buffer capacity” into your farm will lead to better production and more consistency.
Greenhouse Structure.
For those starting to investigate different greenhouse types and designs or for those that have already gone through the process, I think we can all agree that the choices are limitless, and for the most part the look of the greenhouse has not changed much of the years with one major exception. They have gotten much taller. Taller greenhouses provide a more uniform, stable and ultimately superior growing environment for the crop. During hot weather (as an example), the additional space creates a buffer that avoids trapping heat and humid air around the plants.
Water holding tanks and nutrient solutions reservoirs
For beginning growers this is the area where the right decisions might provide the biggest advantages. Experienced growers may choose to size their systems differently depending on their budget, crop and space but one thing is for sure, they will make sure that they have ample water availability as well as on demand storage to respond to changing crop needs.
Larger tanks and reservoirs (as compared to the amount of plants in the system) have a considerable buffer before they will run out or need to be dumped. The most obvious benefit is that of ensuring the tanks don’t run dry and cause extensive damage to the pump(s) or loss of crops and production. The most important benefit might be a properly sized system’s ability to keep the nutrient solution from having big erratic swings in EC and pH.
Substrates
Hydroponic substrates provide an (additional) reservoir for water, a place for plants to take up nutrients, an area for the plant to develop a sufficient root system as well as location for gaseous exchanges. A good grower will consider all the other decisions that he or she has made in building the greenhouse and designing the irrigation system then decide how much buffer capacity their substrate needs to provide. If the buffer capacity of the irrigation system is limited, the grower may choose to use more substrate with a higher water holding capacity so the total system is more durable on hot summer days. If the grower has a tremendous amount of confidence in their access to water, the responsiveness of their irrigation system and their ability to fix the system if they have problems then the grower might choose a substrate that they can steer thereby providing them more control in the greenhouse.
Growers should always choose a properly sized and engineered system. The reality is that the budget will drive many of the growers’ decisions. Understanding buffer capacity in the system will allow growers to get the most out of their investment while still focusing on consistent and uniformed crop production.
To continue the conversation, email us and schedule some time with either Chris Higgins or our newest grower consultant Tyler Baras (aka The Farmer Tyler.)
Next article. Can indoor farming be profitable?. Simple answer: of course. Complexed answer it all depends.
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Tagged GreenhouseHydroponic Production SystemsHydroponicsVertical Farming
Hydroponic Greenhouse Project To Bring Locals Food And Jobs
A new greenhouse facility will come to Torrington, CT - in addition to providing fresh, local, pesticide-free produce to residents of New England, it will also offer something else: economic opportunities to disadvantaged citizens
From left to right: Bill Rybczyk, Director of Research, Development, and Planning at New Opportunities; Joe Swartz, AmHydro; Jon Jensen, of The Corporate Advisory, Co, LLC.
A new greenhouse facility will come to Torrington, CT - in addition to providing fresh, local, pesticide-free produce to residents of New England, it will also offer something else: economic opportunities to disadvantaged citizens.
New Opportunities is a community action agency that serves Waterbury, Meriden, Torrington and 27 surrounding Connecticut towns, offering a variety of social service programs designed to eliminate poverty and assist people in need. In accordance with the mission of New Opportunities, the Agency aims to increase the self-sufficiency of its customers and support their move out of poverty toward a more middle-class lifestyle. As part of their Food 4 Thought initiative, New Opportunities is planning to build three hydroponic greenhouses in Torrington.
Years in the making
The decision to build the greenhouses didn't happen overnight. New Opportunities has been working on the development of a Controlled Environment Agriculture production facility for over three years. A business team working with the New Opportunities Foundation spent over a year evaluating controlled environment agriculture technologies and providers. After an extensive search and several interview meetings, New Opportunities chose AmHydro as the best and most experienced team to fit their needs, Joe Swartz, Vice President with AmHydro, tells us.
Food and jobs for locals
The goal of this initial project is to not only generate revenue for the foundation but also provide local residents and regional grocery chains such as Whole Foods, Stop and Shop and Big Y pesticide-free lettuce and leafy greens, living wage “green jobs” to local residents and sound economic opportunities for disadvantaged residents in the program. To achieve this goal, AmHydro has also partnered with Atlas Greenhouse, ATOM Controls, and Borghesi Builders to complete this project.
For more information:
AmHydro
1 (800) 458-6543
info@amhydro.com
amhydro.com
'Superfarm' By Studio NAB Proposes A Vertical Farm Concept To Combat Land Shortage
in response to the growing global population, studio NAB, has developed the ‘superfarm‘ concept as an alternative to traditional farming methods. as the name suggests, the project creates a building that focuses on the production of foods with a high nutritional value that can be consumed in addition to a healthy diet. the ‘superfarm’ also strives to recreate an ecosystem within an urban environment. seaweed culture, beekeeping, insect farming, aquaponics and also various greenhouse cultivations and outdoor cultures are included in the scheme by the architect.
view of the project from a dock | all images courtesy of studio NAB
As a conceptual project, studio NAB‘s design has been imagined in the heart of a city on a river development in an effort to respond to scarcity of land. the 6 storey proposal is designed to occupy a small 12m by 12m surface, with a height of 34m. each level of the ‘superfarm’ is developed to increase in area as you ascend, therefore gaining the maximum floor area with minimum impact on the site. each floor will house different functions, with the top floor comprising of a greenhouse with beehives and planting spaces. on the roof, solar panels and wind turbines provide energy to power the building.
view from the access footbridge
in addition to producing a wide variety of highly nutritious foods, the ‘superfarm’ also aims to reduce travel distances of food and therefore restore the link between producers and consumers. inhabitants will also gain easier access to these products by coming directly to the farm. accessible from the footbridge, a direct sales area has been imagined as well as a storage area for dry goods and cold rooms for perishable goods.
view from the platform of the production of seaweed
studio NAB’s concept also aspires to combat unemployment and revive the local economy on a neighborhood scale. the scheme also aims to create a collective awareness of the inhabitants and local partners around a common project of innovative and healthy urban agriculture. thanks to the installation of wind turbines and solar panels, several kW/h can be produced daily to supply the heat production systems and to allow the ventilation and lighting of indoor production areas. therefore, the building will produce it’s own power to operate and be completely energy self-sufficient.
view of the production space in direct connection with the greenhouse
view of the greenhouse, on the roof, solar panels and wind turbines power the building
section through the building showing the functions of the farm and details of the food produced by floors
level 6 greenhouse
level 5 aquaphonics
level 4 algae culture
level 3 insect breeding
level 2 platform
level 1 offices
ground level
project info:
project name: ‘superfarm’
project status: concept
architect: studio NAB
designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.
edited by: lynne myers | designboom
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Calgary’s Indoor Urban Farms Breaking Down Barriers, Eye Expansion of Local Food Production
Growers at both NuLeaf farms and Deepwater farms say there’s still hurdles to overcome for Calgary to ramp up the harvest.
Megan Janz with Deepwater Farms looks over some of the greens the Calgary commercial aquaponics company grows. DARREN KRAUSE / LIVEWIRE CALGARY
The seeds of Calgary’s commercial food industry have been planted, but conditions aren’t yet ripe for the city to harvest the full rewards of urban food production, local producers say.
Former oil and gas engineers Paul and Ryan Wright, along with Dan Clayholt, launched NuLeaf farms, a hydroponic agriculture operation in a southeast Calgary garage.
“We really wanted to find something where we had some passion and where we could apply our skills to really solve some problems,” said Paul.
“Agriculture stood out like a sore thumb.”
They saw an opportunity to use high-end tech they’d been exposed to for the development of more sustainable and efficient year-round food production in Calgary.
“That led to the beginning of us not only developing something that was environmentally sustainable, but we wanted something that was economically sustainable,” Paul said.
They have a proprietary software that optimizes climate conditions and nutrient delivery, light conditions and amount of CO2. It’s allowed them to build a vertical growing system that produces 180 plants per square foot annually, enough to allow them to sell to smaller grocery stores and Calgary restaurants.
Now they’re scaling up. They have a module designed – similar to the size of the garage – but they also have plans for a full-sized manufacturing operation.
While headway’s been made in the adoption of land-uses for indoor commercial food growth in Calgary, Paul said accessibility to programs to help them scale up is a challenge.
(From left) Ryan Wright, Paul Wright and Dan Clayholt with NuLeaf Farms, a hydroponic operation based in southeast Calgary that grows basil. DARREN KRAUSE / LIVEWIRE CALGARY
“A lot of (granting) agencies are looking for innovation, but the parameters for grants aren’t tailored to anything like this. They seem pretty closed-minded to anything that far out of the norm,” Paul said.
He added that when setting up operations he’s cognizant of the business tax regime in the city and how it compares with jurisdictions like Rocky View County.
Kristi Peters Snider, sustainability consultant with the City of Calgary’s CalgaryEATS! Food Action Plan, said indoor commercial food operations are new in Calgary, with the city seeing mostly outdoor “spin farms” and other smaller urban farms over the past decade.
Peters Snider said the city’s land use bylaw amendments coupled with Calgary Economic Development’s saying agri-business should be an area of focus has boosted efforts to modernize Calgary’s food rules.
“There’s some work to do, and the role the city can play is in enabling more food distribution pathways to help these growers,” she said.
Paul Shumlich, founder and CEO of Calgary’s Deepwater Farms, an aquaponics operation in southeast Calgary, said it’s early days in all this and any movement forward should be done in consultation with the growers.
“If they go ahead and start implementing things, or drafting policy or bylaws without input from industry, they’ll screw it up. Or they’ll make hurdles that don’t need to exist,” Shumlich said.
“They (the city) need to understand what we need and then reverse engineer as if we’re the customer.”
Shumlich’s operation, which he started a number of years back, grows plants without soil and feeds the plants with water whose nutrients come from the waste of edible sea bass they’re raising in the same operation.
They’re at one-third capacity and will be expanding in their current space through 2019, also with eyes on a new facility. They’ve launched a crowdfunding campaign to push the production forward.
He said it’s been a challenge being a pioneer locally, as they’re paving the way through the civic bureaucracy.
“We’ve definitely been pioneering a lot of it in terms of getting through all the permitting, land use and through all the inspections,” said Shumlich.
“Everybody that we deal with, from a permitting perspective, has no idea what they’re looking at or how to deal with us, so that’s been a bit of a headache.”
Peters Snider said the city’s working on the development of an urban farm that will not only allow them to test a model of city-owned land used for food production, but also to help inform them on best practices for approaching things like permits and approvals.
She said they have a 17-point action plan that will help break down some of the barriers new operations face – including creating new pathways for the sale of urban farm products.
They piloted pop-up LRT markets for the sale of fresh produce and will continue to build out that program. They’re also hoping to open up more markets on city-owned land. More changes to land use are expected in 2019.
“There’s lots more work. I feel that each area of focus helps achieve that goal of producing more local food,” she said.
That’s the goal. Both NuLeaf and Deepwater Farms are committed to the safe, environmentally-friendly and sustainable growth of local food. They both want to scale up and push the boundaries of their business to deliver fresh produce (and in Shumlich’s case, sea bass) to the Calgary and Alberta market.
“We’re trying to supply the big guys,” said Paul from NuLeaf.
“We’re trying to eliminate as much imported product as possible.”
While there are some hiccups, Shumlich said that’s normal when breaking new ground.
“More than anything it’s exciting and fun because there’s no playbook, so what we’re doing is novel,” he said.
On the Heels of Digital Sales Boost, Kroger Launches First-Ever Unmanned Delivery Service
Since August, the companies have operated a self-driving grocery delivery service in Scottsdale, AZ, with an autonomous Prius fleet accompanied by vehicle operators.
Nuro and The Kroger Co. announced the launch of the first-ever unmanned delivery service available to the general public.
Since August, the companies have operated a self-driving grocery delivery service in Scottsdale, AZ, with an autonomous Prius fleet accompanied by vehicle operators. The autonomous vehicles have completed nearly one thousand deliveries to the general public.
With this launch, the fleet is expanding to include Nuro's custom unmanned vehicle known as the R1. The R1 travels on public roads and has no driver, no passengers and only transports goods. Nuro has been developing the R1 since 2016, and announced its partnership with Kroger, America's largest supermarket retailer, in June.
"Nuro envisions a world without errands, where everything is on-demand and can be delivered affordably. Operating a delivery service using our custom unmanned vehicles is an important first step toward that goal," explained Nuro President and co-founder Dave Ferguson.
"Kroger customers are looking for new, convenient ways to feed their families and purchase the products they need quickly through services like pickup and delivery," said Yael Cosset, Kroger's chief digital officer. "Our autonomous delivery pilot with Nuro over the past few months continues to prove the benefit of the flexible and reliable technology. Through this exciting and innovative partnership, we are delivering a great customer experience and advancing Kroger's commitment to redefine the grocery experience by creating an ecosystem that offers our customers anything, anytime, and anywhere."
Kroger experienced 60 percent digital sales growth in the third quarter, and its seamless coverage area now reaches more than 90 percent of customer households.
Here’s How America Uses Its Land
What can be harder to decipher is how Americans use their land to create wealth.
There are many statistical measures that show how productive the U.S. is. Its economy is the largest in the world and grew at a rate of 4.1 percent last quarter, its fastest pace since 2014. The unemployment rate is near the lowest mark in a half century.
What can be harder to decipher is how Americans use their land to create wealth. The 48 contiguous states alone are a 1.9 billion-acre jigsaw puzzle of cities, farms, forests and pastures that Americans use to feed themselves, power their economy and extract value for business and pleasure.
Methodology Land use classifications are based on data published in 2017 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service in a report called the Major Uses of Land in the United States (MLU). Data from the report provide total land-use acreage estimates for each state across six broad categories. Those totals are displayed per 250,000 acres.
Data from Alaska and Hawaii are excluded from the analysis. Special-use land and forestland make up the biggest land types in those states.
Bloomberg referenced the USDA data against estimates from the National Land Cover Database to generally locate these categories within each state.
Miscellaneous uses are defined as wetlands, rural residential lands, non-harvestable forests, desert, tundra and barren land of low economic value. Unlike all other land-use categories in the USDA data, a component breakdown for miscellaneous uses by state is not provided in the MLU.
To locate miscellaneous areas, Bloomberg referred to the National Land Cover Database to generally calculate and locate acreage by miscellaneous uses. “Rural residential lands” in the USDA data make up most of the 69 million-acre miscellaneous-use category. This category does not equally correlate to data in the National Land Cover Database, so Bloomberg subtracted the total of the other miscellaneous components to arrive at a rough estimate of “rural residential lands”—about 50 million acres.
Total pasture/range areas are proportionally divided by animal group based on National Agricultural Statistics Service livestock counts.
Data showing the 100 largest landowning families are based on descriptions of acreage and land type in The Land Reportmagazine. Representative amounts of acreage were subtracted from private timber and cropland/range to show this category, which is not a part of the USDA data.
Sources: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service: Major Uses of Land in the United States, 2012; U.S. Department of the Interior, National Land Cover Database, 2011; U.S. Census Bureau; State governments; stateparks.org; American Farmland Trust; Golf Course Superintendents Association of America; USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service; USDA Census of Agriculture; U.S. Bureau of Land Management; U.S. Forest Service; Weyerhaeuser Co.; The Land Report magazine
Vacant But Not Empty: New Hope Lingers As Abandoned Buildings Go Green In US Cities
Vacant But Not Empty: New Hope Lingers As Abandoned Buildings Go Green In US Cities
The idea is simple and inexpensive and with a little bit of creativity, these ghost towns can be turned into pushy green recreational areas.
By: Ambili S
Jun 9, 2018
US FlagReuters
- Empty houses and buildings abandoned across the US cities are not new, especially in legacy cities like Detroit and Cleveland, where the clusters of vacant buildings have reached "epidemic levels."
In a survey conducted by US Census Bureau, the number of vacant properties grew from 3.7 million in 2005 to 5.8 million in 2016. In addition, cities like Gary, Detroit, and Flint tops the list.
So why are these properties empty? Though it is difficult to jolt down one particular problem as the cause, an array of issues—right from property taxes to speculative real estate market to changing land policies to diminishing industrial growth—have contributed to this scenario.
A slew of other surveys in the past few years have further made the shocking revelation on this issue. According to City Survey, Gary, Indiana's Parcel Survey found more than 25,000 vacant homes that comprise more than 40 percent of the city's parcels. While in Philadelphia, the numbers rose to 40,000 empty lots. In another study by the local NGO, Detroit Future City, the city had more than 120,000 vacant buildings in 2017.
While the growing vacant buildings are definitely an eyesore for the citizens, other public safety hazards like crime management activities are also a cause for concern. UW–Madison Geography Department graduate student Elsa Noterman has conducted an in-depth analysis of the conflicts, causes, and histories of these deserted properties.
The research strongly affirms that the banks, which sell or allow the ownership of the vacant lots, have failed to hear different voices while confirming the land titling process. It has also raised different viewpoints of the urban community development process and urges officials to consider going beyond the market value to explore the real usage of abandoned spaces.
Setting such views apart, a small neighborhood in Philadelphia has gone in a different direction and tasted success. The local community has converted one of these neglected properties into a community garden for its residents. However, the site was lost against a developer recently, who purchased the land before the urban farmers could obtain the title. Similarly, midwestern steel town Gary, Indiana is also making a slow comeback with various community-based redevelopment activities.
Many cities and local nonprofits are turning to greener ideas to make the maximum use of these buildings—urban farms, pocket parks, and community gardens top the list. With a little support from the local authorities, these forgotten towns can be converted into community green spots, suggests the research report.
It may succeed elsewhere as the idea is simple and inexpensive. With a little bit of creativity, these ghost towns can soon be turned into pushy green recreational areas.
10 Numbers That Show How Much Farmland We’re Losing to Development
10 Numbers That Show How Much Farmland We’re Losing to Development
By Dan Nosowitz on May 22, 2018
This image, courtesy of American Farmland Trust, shows the conversion of agricultural land to urban and low-density residential development between 1992 and 2012.
AFT, Farms Under Threat
American Farmland Trust, which since 1980 has been attempting to save agricultural land in the U.S., has compiled a huge assessment of the movement of farmland between 1992 and 2012 (the latter date being the last that the data required was available).
The organization’s findings, which they are calling “the most comprehensive ever undertaken of America’s agricultural lands,” aren’t hugely shocking, at least at the surface: American farmland is being vacuumed up by development. What’s new, though, is the discovery that the development isn’t coming only from urban areas expanding outwards—rural areas are also losing farmland rapidly.
“The fact is that we have this sort of insidious development that no one’s been paying attention to, and we really need to start paying attention,” says Julia Freedgood, the assistant VP of programs at the AFT.
Why is this happening? There’s no simple answer. One major reason, which has spiraling effects, is that farming is an incredibly difficult and not a very lucrative career path. The average age of the American farmer was nearly 60 in 2012 (the time of the last census); as those farmers retire or pass away, successive generations turn elsewhere for jobs, the land goes fallow and is sold off. Another reason: it’s sometimes simply worth more to sell farmland rather than actually farm the land, especially if that farmland is near a city or town.
“There’s no one to take it over and it’s worth more selling to developers, so why not?” That’s also part of the reason it’s obscenely difficult to find new land for new farmers; land access, according to the National Young Farmers Coalition, is one of the most difficult obstacles for beginning farmers.
This is concerning for a variety of reasons. The obvious one is that farmland produces food, so less farmland means the price of food may rise. The majority of American farmland is devoted to commodity crops—soy, corn, wheat—and many of the uses of those crops are not for direct eating. Much of it, though, is used for animal feed, and if the price of animal feed goes up, so goes the price of meat. And, of course, some of the farmland being lost is for so-called “specialty” crops, like fruits and vegetables. But there are other reasons as well.
Development on farmland can have negative effects, removing land that animals use as a habitat. Well-operated farms care for the soil, air, and water, and produce viable ecosystems. Economically, the agricultural industry employs millions in all sorts of fields, from machinery to inputs to researchers to retailers to packagers.
What it's like to apply for the almost unwinnable U.S. green card lottery
We put together a list of some of the AFT’s findings that should help to add some (scary) context.
10% of the world’s arable acres lie within the United States.
Agriculture contributes $992 billion to the American economy each year.
31 million acres of farmland lost to development, in total, between 1992 and 2012.
That’s 175 acres per hour of agricultural land lost to development—3 acres per minute.
It probably comes as no surprise that the expansion of cities and suburbs are responsible for most of the loss in farmland. But 41% of the lost acres actually came from development in rural areas.
The U.S. lost 11 million acres of America’s best agricultural land—land with superior soil conditions and weather for growing food—from 1992 to 2012.
Best agricultural land for intensive food and crop production in 2012. Source: AFT, Farms Under Threat.
0.43 PVR: PVR stands for Productivity, Versatility, and Resiliency, and it’s a metric the American Farmland Trust uses to rate the quality of farmland. If farmland has a rating above that—say, 0.65—that makes it great farmland. Below that, and it’s subpar. Farmland with a high rating is being lost disproportionately quickly, which means suboptimal farmland will have to be used. And suboptimal farmland requires more water, more transportation, more energy, more fertilizers, and more pesticides to be productive, all of which are bad for the environment.
Just 17% of American land is ideal for farming. We don’t have that much to lose! The amount of the best land lost is about equal to California’s entire Central Valley.
62% of development between 1992 and 2012 took place on agricultural land. The other 38% was primarily forest and simply unused space.
Some types of farmland are more at risk of being swallowed by development than others. 91% of the acreage devoted to fruit trees, tree nuts, and berries are directly in the path of development as they’re located in counties that qualify as either metropolitan areas or immediately adjacent to them.
This report is the first part of a multi-year project to better understand farmland use and loss state-by-state and to better understand the effectiveness of state farmland protection policies. Make sure to read the full, eye-opening “Farms Under Threat” report, and you can also use that link to sign up for updates on the project from the AFT.