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Planning could lessen impact of urban sprawl

Pick any state and you are likely to find examples of urban sprawl, where farmland is being converted into subdivisions and industry.

And those examples are not just found around large metropolitan areas such as Kansas City, Chicago, St. Louis and Des Moines. Ag land is disappearing around other growing cities throughout the Midwest.

A report written in 2022 from the American Farmland Trust suggests this trend is likely to continue. In the report, the organization said from 2001 to 2016, the U.S. lost or compromised 2,000 acres of farmland every day. If the trend continues, another 18.4 million acres will be converted between 2016 and 2040. That is roughly the size of the state of South Carolina.

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How AI is Reshaping U.S. Agriculture: Insights from Heather Hampton Knodle

Video: How AI is Reshaping U.S. Agriculture: Insights from Heather Hampton Knodle

At the 2025 Rural Economic Outlook Conference, Illinois farmer and FCC Precision Agriculture Task Force member Heather Hampton Knodle joins SUNUP’s Lyndall Stout to explore how artificial intelligence is revolutionizing farming.