A Staggering Amount Of Farmland Lost

Show Date:

Published: May 8, 2023

Dr. Charlie Martinez and his team at the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture have been busy for months now pulling numbers and trying to determine how much farmland we’ve lost in the state of Tennessee. Their study isn’t complete yet, but the numbers Martinez and his team recently shared with the Tennessee Department of Agriculture and the Tennessee Farm Bureau is truly shocking.

Thomas Capps: A Staggering Amount of Farmland Lost in Tennessee. Hello, and welcome to Tennessee Home and Farm Radio. I’m Thomas Capps.

Jeff Aiken: The more numbers we see the more alarmed we are at what we’re seeing.

Thomas Capps: Charley Martinez and his team at the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture have been busy for months now pulling numbers and trying to determine how much farmland we’ve lost in the state of Tennessee. Their study isn’t complete yet, but the numbers Martinez and his team recently shared with the Tennessee Department of Agriculture and the Tennessee Farm Bureau is truly shocking.

Charley Martinez: The number of acres that have been converted out of agriculture production, it depends on what dataset you’re looking at. So, for instance, crop skate data, which comes from USDA NASS, they estimate that we’ve lost around 86,000 acres a year for the past four years, five years actually, if you look at comptroller data, and you look at that, from the Comptroller Treasury here in Tennessee, we’re averaging 34,000 acres a year that we’ve lost the last five years. And so we’re getting a wide range of variation in terms of how much we’ve been losing. I think regardless of what dataset you’re looking at, the big thing is that we are still losing data at a high rate.

Thomas Capps: Deputy Commissioner of Agriculture, Jeff Aiken has been leading the charge and studying this problem within the Department of Agriculture. He says now that they have some hard numbers, leaders in the ag industry can start to come up with solutions.

Jeff Aiken: Trying to address some laws that might, you know, give some tax incentives or things to help keep young people keep those that are in agriculture and agriculture, but also encourage young people to take a look at it. There’s real challenges to the transition and to start.

Thomas Capps: Moving forward, Martinez and his team will work to finish collecting data and make it accessible to everyone.

Charley Martinez: Our hope is to have it done before the end of the summer and have a data set that you know if policymakers have a question on you know what, what is the impact of conversion in certain counties? We can answer that.

Thomas Capps: All to try and find a balance between what many call progress and protecting our state’s largest and most important industry. For Tennessee Home and Farm Radio. I’m Thomas Capps.