This number dropped another 1 million acres from 2015-2017, leaving the total at just 911 million acres. From 1985-2010 Wisconsin lost over 800,000 acres of prime cropland. Wisconsin Farms -A total of 6,702 acres of farmland were diverted to other uses in 2009, according to the Wisconsin Agricultural Statistics Service. They often sell their farms for housing developments, to provide financial security for their retirement. In many areas, urban development pressure and increased property taxes are forcing farmers out of business. This loss reduces our ability to grow food, fiber and timber. We're chewing up farms at an alarming rate across the U.S., to create new highways, fringe industrial parks and sprawled housing developments.
As the urban population of the country grows, the physical footprint of urbanity can be expected to grow right along with it. Of the roughly 3,500 urban areas in the U.S., only about 50 shrank in size over the last decade. Between 20, almost every urban area in the country expanded physically. Census Bureau, the population increased 10% since 2000. Traditional cities were compact and efficient, but over the past 30-60 years, the density of land used per person has declined drastically. "Sprawl" is the increased use of urbanized land by fewer people than in the past. We must adopt sustainable patterns of development which are not self-destructive. Land use and urban sprawl are major environmental concerns affecting us in a variety of ways.