Available Arable Land in U.S.?

Question

I have seen various views written about whether we are over utilising or under utilising our arable land.

Is there real arable land left that could be used for low impact biofuel production? How much?

I appreciate sources.

Thanks!

P.S.

interesting statistic:

"As late as 1910, some 27 percent of all U.S. farmland was still devoted to feeding horses used for transportation"

Answer 1

I do not think that there is real arable land left. Most lands just named arable r being used for other purposes.

Answer 2

There is currently land being used poorly. Think about it. You have orchards of trees and nothing growing underneath. Couldn't you plant stuff like grapes or other shade plants. I don't think we should be concerned about using baron land as much at this point as increasing the use of already used land. This would help out drastically and help reduce the need for further land development. Property owners could start using their back yards to grow plants that would help. Even if all you got is a back yard of 50' x 50' you could still help if you could get your nabbors on a joint venture. Use what we have already destroyed and save what is native.

Answer 3

Of the earth's 148,000,000 km² (57 million square miles) of land, approximately 31,000,000 km² (12 million square miles) are arable; however, arable land is currently being lost at the rate of over 100,000 km² (38,610 square miles) per year. However, non-arable land can be converted into arable land. New arable land makes more food, and can reduce starvation. This outcome also makes a country more self-sufficient and politically independent, because food importation is reduced.

Some examples of infertile non-arable land being turned into fertile arable land are:

    * Aran Islands: This island off the west coast of Ireland, (not to be confused with the Isle of Arran in Scotland's Firth of Clyde), was unsuitable for arable farming because it was too rocky. The people covered the island with a shallow layer of seaweed and sand from the ocean. This made it arable. Today, crops are grown there.

    * Israel: Israel's land primarily consisted of desert until the construction of desalination plants along the country's coast. The desalination plants, which remove the salt from ocean water, have created a new source of water for farming, drinking, and washing.

Urban sprawl: In the United States, 8,900 km² (about 2.2 million acres) of land was added to urban areas between 1992 and 2002, much of it farmland now paved.

Droughts like the 'dust bowl' of the Great Depression in the U.S. turned farmland into desert.

There is always hope. Everyday, Americans are discovering the idea of Urban Farming. Large areas in American cities are being converted back to farmland, and more local produce is getting to market than ever before. Here in Seattle large patches have been reclaimed under existing power line, land that is considered undesirable for housing.

Who knows?? In the future we may have as much "farmland" inside cities as we do outside them....one little patch at a time!