BY LINDA McGURK
Indiana Correspondent

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Indiana may be losing farmland at a higher rate than is reported by the Census of Agriculture, and policy makers are basing land-use decisions on data that’s incomplete and out of date, according to a new Purdue University study.

“The study confirmed what we were seeing with our own eyes,” said Linda Prokopy, an assistant professor of natural resources planning and co-author of the study. “As we were driving around Indiana, we were seeing a lot of urban sprawl, and yet we’re hearing from state leaders that (farmland loss) is not an issue.”

Prokopy and graduate student Aaron Thompson studied losses in all 194 counties in Indiana and Illinois between 1992-2002 by using existing land cover data from the USDA’s Census of Agriculture and National Resources Inventory. The information was layered in a spatial analysis using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software, a tool that helps the user collect and analyze information that is linked to specific locations. The spatial analysis showed farmland conversion during the 10-year period was occurring at a higher rate than reported by the Census of Agriculture.

“I think the most important result of the study was that it shows Census of Agriculture data should not be used when making decisions about land preservation. It’s not collected for that purpose and our study shows that it’s not working,” said Prokopy.
The spatial analysis showed Indiana and Illinois combined lost more than one million acres, or the equivalent of three counties, of farmland in 1992-2002. Illinois lost 2.61 percent of its total agricultural acreage and Indiana lost 2.29. The conversion of farmland to urban uses is occurring in all counties, with two Illinois counties losing more than 30,000 acres.

Though urban sprawl is occurring at a comparable rate in the two states, the study notes they take completely different approaches to farmland preservation, with Illinois being distinctly more proactive than Indiana.

“In Indiana there’s no state-level policy on how to protect farmland, and local agencies that want to do something about it don’t get the support they need,” said Prokopy. “For example, there’s federal money available for farmland preservation, but local agencies (in Indiana) can’t access it because there’s no state match.”

Tony Hahn, Indiana State Department of Agriculture chief of staff and executive director of the Indiana Land Resources Council (ILRC), said he hasn’t yet seen the Purdue study, but defended Indiana’s lack of an official policy on farmland preservation.
“This administration is very supportive of local control and we believe zoning should be a county issue,” he said. “The role we (ILRC) want to play is to provide support to counties when they have questions about zoning or their comprehensive plans.
“But when it comes down to it, it’s up to the private property owners to keep their land as farmland or use it as they see fit. It’s up to the local governments and citizens to decide what they want their county to look like five years from now.”

Hahn said local governments in Indiana, however, could soon gain access to the type of GIS data that was used in the Purdue study, through a statewide project called Planning with POWER.

Coordinated by the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant College Program and the Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service, Planning with POWER “is designed to empower communities to prevent and solve natural resource problems resulting from changing land use in growing watersheds and to empower local officials to incorporate watershed protection measures into comprehensive land use plans,” according to the program’s website.