Major Land Uses

Jul 23, 2019

By Ray Massey

Missouri has 44 million acres of land, 64 percent of which is listed as agricultural land. Taking the long view of land use clarifies the impact of agriculture on the environment. The USDA Census of Agriculture has published the number of acres in major land use categories since 1945. Exhibit 2.1 shows that the number of acres in cropland reached a maximum of 21.5 million acres in 1969. Since then, land dedicated to crop production decreased to 15.6 million acres in 2012. The black line in Exhibit 2.1 shows that the amount of land used for crop and livestock production decreased from 36.2 million acres in 1945 to 28.8 million acres in 2012.

Using less land for crop and livestock production has resulted in an additional 6.2 million acres of forestland not grazed and an additional 700,000 acres of parks and wildlife areas.

Exhibit 2.1 — Missouri land uses, 1945–2012

Source: missouri.edu

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.