Farmland is disappearing in the Northeast and throughout the country at an alarming rate. The reasons for this reduction are numerous, and include encroaching commercial and residential development, the recent and relentless dairy crisis that has forced the closing of many dairy farms, and the retirement of many farmers who have no successor to take over the farming operation.
Deserted Barn
In an effort to quantify the extent of the losses, we have gathered the most recent data from the USDA’s Census of Agriculture in 2017 and compared it to historical data from the 1959 census. We compiled the data into the chart below, which shows the numbers of farms and the acres of land in farming in each state for the two featured census years.
Farms lost over the last 60 years
| # of Farms | Acres in Farming | # of Farms | percent decrease | Acres in Farming | percent decrease | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CSG East States | 1959 | 2016 | |||||
| Connecticut | 8292 | 884443 | 5500 | 0.337 | 380000 | 0.57 | |
| Delaware | 5208 | 762526 | 2300 | 0.558 | 530000 | 0.305 | |
| Maine | 17360 | 3082000 | 7200 | 0.585 | 1300000 | 0.578 | |
| Maryland | 25122 | 3450000 | 12400 | 0.5 | 2000000 | 0.42 | |
| Massachusetts | 11179 | 1140000 | 7200 | 0.356 | 500000 | 0.561 | |
| New Hampshire | 6542 | 1134000 | 4100 | 0.373 | 430000 | 0.621 | |
| New Jersey | 15459 | 1379000 | 9900 | 0.36 | 750000 | 0.456 | |
| New York | 82356 | 13400000 | 33400 | 0.594 | 6900000 | 0.4851 | |
| Pennsylvania | 100052 | 11800000 | 53000 | 0.47 | 7300000 | 0.381 | |
| Rhode Island | 1395 | 137830 | 1100 | 0.211 | 60000 | 0.565 | |
| Vermont | 12099 | 2900000 | 6800 | 0.438 | 1200000 | 0.562 | |
| 285064 | 40069799 | 142900 | 21350000 | ||||
| Canadian Provinces | 1956 | 2017 | |||||
| New Brunswick | 22116 | 617279 | 2255 | 0.898 | 344504 | 0.442 | |
| Nova Scotia | 21075 | 416235 | 3478 | 0.835 | 915657 | 0.022 | |
| Ontario | 140602 | 8200000 | 49600 | 0.647 | 9000000 | 1.09 | |
| Prince Edward Island | 9432 | 419099 | 1353 | 0.856 | 575490 | 0.373 | |
| Québec | 122617 | 5500000 | 28919 | 0.764 | 4600000 | 0.163 | |
| 315842 | 15152.613 | 85605 | . | 15435651 | . |
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