IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/uersib/263079.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Major Uses of Land in the United States, 2012

Author

Listed:
  • Bigelow, Daniel
  • Borchers, Allison

Abstract

The United States has a total land area of about 2.3 billion acres. In 2012, the major land uses were grassland pasture and rangeland at 655 million acres (29 percent of U.S. total); forest-use land at 632 million (28 percent); cropland at 392 million acres (17 percent); special uses (primarily parks and wildlife areas) at 316 million acres (14 percent); miscellaneous uses (such as wetlands, tundra, and unproductive woodlands) at 196 million acres (9 percent); and urban land at 70 million acres (3 percent). This study presents findings from the most recent (2012) inventory of U.S. major land uses, drawing on data from USDA, the U.S. Census Bureau, public land management and conservation agencies, and other sources. The data are collected for each State to estimate the use of several broad classes and subclasses of agricultural and nonagricultural land over time. National and regional trends in land use are compared with earlier major land-use estimates.

Suggested Citation

  • Bigelow, Daniel & Borchers, Allison, 2017. "Major Uses of Land in the United States, 2012," Economic Information Bulletin 263079, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:uersib:263079
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.263079
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/263079/files/eib-178.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/263079/files/eib-178.pdf?subformat=pdfa
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.263079?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wooten, H.H., 1953. "Major Uses of Land in the United States," Technical Bulletins 156647, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    2. MacDonald, James M. & McBride, William D., 2009. "The Transformation of U.S. Livestock Agriculture: Scale, Efficiency, and Risks," Economic Information Bulletin 58311, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    3. Ruben N. Lubowski & Andrew J. Plantinga & Robert N. Stavins, 2008. "What Drives Land-Use Change in the United States? A National Analysis of Landowner Decisions," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 84(4), pages 529-550.
    4. Roberts, Michael J. & Osteen, Craig D. & Soule, Meredith J., 2004. "Risk, Government Programs, And The Environment," Technical Bulletins 33563, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    5. Nickerson, Cynthia & Ebel, Robert & Borchers, Allison & Carriazo, Fernando, 2011. "Major Uses of Land in the United States, 2007," Economic Information Bulletin 291937, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    6. Petrolia, Daniel R. & Ibendahl, Gregory A., 2008. "Conservation Programs: Will Grain Production Reclaim Acres in the South?," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Southern Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 40(2), pages 1-14, August.
    7. Walters, Cory G. & Shumway, C. Richard & Chouinard, Hayley H. & Wandschneider, Philip R., 2012. "Crop Insurance, Land Allocation, and the Environment," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 37(2), pages 1-20, August.
    8. Meredith J. Soule & Abebayehu Tegene & Keith D. Wiebe, 2000. "Land Tenure and the Adoption of Conservation Practices," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 82(4), pages 993-1005.
    9. Zipp, Katherine Y. & Lewis, David J. & Provencher, Bill, 2017. "Does the conservation of land reduce development? An econometric-based landscape simulation with land market feedbacks," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 19-37.
    10. MacDonald, James M. & Cessna, Jerry & Mosheim, Roberto, 2016. "Changing Structure, Financial Risks, and Government Policy for the U.S. Dairy Industry," Economic Research Report 262200, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    11. Wooten, Hugh H. & Anderson, James R., 1957. "Major Uses of Land in the United States: Summary for 1954," Agricultural Information Bulletins 308792, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    12. Miao, Ruiqing & Hennessy, David A. & Feng, Hongli, 2016. "The Effects of Crop Insurance Subsidies and Sodsaver on Land-Use Change," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 41(2), May.
    13. Lubowski, Ruben N. & Bucholtz, Shawn & Claassen, Roger & Roberts, Michael J. & Cooper, Joseph C. & Gueorguieva, Anna & Johansson, Robert C., 2006. "Environmental Effects Of Agricultural Land-Use Change: The Role Of Economics And Policy," Economic Research Report 33591, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    14. Frey, H. Thomas & Hexem, Roger W., 1985. "Major Uses of Land in the United States: 1982," Agricultural Economic Reports 305574, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    15. Frey, H. Thomas, 1982. "Major Uses of Land in the United States: 1978," Agricultural Economic Reports 305573, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    16. Nancy Bockstael, 2008. "An Empirical Examination of the Timing of Land Conversions in the Presence of Farmland Preservation Programs," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 90(3), pages 613-626.
    17. Vesterby, Marlow & Krupa, Kenneth S., 2001. "Major Uses of Land in the United States, 1997," Statistical Bulletin 262284, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    18. David A. Newburn & Jeffrey S. Ferris, 2016. "The Effect of Downzoning for Managing Residential Development and Density," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 92(2), pages 220-236.
    19. Daugherty, Arthur B., 1995. "Major Uses of Land in the United States, 1992," Agricultural Economic Reports 305576, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    20. Reuss, L. A. & Wooten, H. H. & Marschner, F. J., 1948. "Inventory of Major Land Uses in the United States," Miscellaneous Publications 314797, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    21. Jeremy G. Weber & Nigel Key & Erik O’Donoghue, 2016. "Does Federal Crop Insurance Make Environmental Externalities from Agriculture Worse?," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 3(3), pages 707-742.
    22. Dempsey, Judith A. & Plantinga, Andrew J., 2013. "How well do urban growth boundaries contain development? Results for Oregon using a difference-in-difference estimator," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(6), pages 996-1007.
    23. Frey, H. Thomas, 1979. "Major Uses of Land in the United States: 1974," Agricultural Economic Reports 305572, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    24. Daugherty, Arthur B., 1991. "Major Uses of Land in the United States: 1987," Agricultural Economic Reports 305575, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    25. Van Butsic & David J. Lewis & Lindsay Ludwig, 2011. "An Econometric Analysis of Land Development with Endogenous Zoning," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 87(3), pages 412-432.
    26. Wiebe, Keith D. & Gollehon, Noel R., 2006. "Agricultural Resources and Environmental Indicators, 2006 Edition," Economic Information Bulletin 7207, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    27. Paul D. Mitchell & Roderick M. Rejesus & Keith H. Coble & Thomas O. Knight, 2012. "Analyzing Farmer Participation Intentions and County Enrollment Rates for the Average Crop Revenue Election Program," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 34(4), pages 615-636.
    28. Vocke, Gary & Ali, Mir, 2013. "U.S. Wheat Production Practices, Costs, and Yields: Variations Across Regions," Economic Information Bulletin 262124, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    29. Kurt Paulsen, 2013. "The Effects of Growth Management on the Spatial Extent of Urban Development, Revisited," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 89(2), pages 193-210.
    30. Wallander, Steven & Claassen, Roger & Nickerson, Cynthia J., 2011. "The Ethanol Decade: An Expansion of U.S. Corn Production, 2000-09," Economic Information Bulletin 117982, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    31. Heimlich, Ralph E. & Anderson, William D., 2001. "Development At The Urban Fringe And Beyond: Impacts On Agriculture And Rural Land," Agricultural Economic Reports 33943, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    32. MacDonald, James M. & Korb, Penni & Hoppe, Robert A., 2013. "Farm Size and the Organization of U.S. Crop Farming," Economic Research Report 262221, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    33. Schaible, Glenn D. & Aillery, Marcel P., 2012. "Water Conservation in Irrigated Agriculture: Trends and Challenges in the Face of Emerging Demands," Economic Information Bulletin 134692, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    34. Dave Donaldson & Adam Storeygard, 2016. "The View from Above: Applications of Satellite Data in Economics," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 30(4), pages 171-198, Fall.
    35. Knowler, Duncan & Bradshaw, Ben, 2007. "Farmers' adoption of conservation agriculture: A review and synthesis of recent research," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 25-48, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Keller, Andrew J. & Boland, Michael A. & Petty, Scott A., 2022. "The Growing Use of Alternative Farmland Ownership Methods in the U.S," Journal of the ASFMRA, American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers, vol. 2022.
    2. Marco Bassetto & Leslie McGranahan, 2021. "Mobility, Population Growth, and Public Capital Spending in the United States," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 41, pages 255-277, July.
    3. MacDonald, James M. & Hoppe, Robert A. & Newton, Doris, 2018. "Three Decades of Consolidation in U.S. Agriculture," Economic Information Bulletin 276247, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    4. Werth, Samantha & Almutairi, Kamel & Thoma, Greg & Mitloehner, Frank, 2021. "An economic assessment of U.S. ground beef in response to the introduction of plant-based meat alternatives," Conference papers 333254, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    5. Dohlman, Erik & Maguire, Karen & Davis, Wilma V. & Husby, Megan & Bovay, John & Weber, Catharine & Lee, Yoonjung, 2024. "Trends, Insights, and Future Prospects for Production in Controlled Environment Agriculture and Agrivoltaics Systems," Economic Information Bulletin 340508, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    6. Hyunseok Kim & GianCarlo Moschini, 2018. "The Dynamics of Supply: U.S. Corn and Soybeans in the Biofuel Era," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 94(4), pages 593-613.
    7. Federico Ciliberto & GianCarlo Moschini & Edward D. Perry, 2019. "Valuing product innovation: genetically engineered varieties in US corn and soybeans," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 50(3), pages 615-644, September.
    8. Bigelow, Daniel P. & Zhang, Hongliang, 2018. "Supplemental irrigation water rights and climate change adaptation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 156-167.
    9. Turner, Dylan & Tsiboe, Francis & Baldwin, Katherine & Williams, Brian & Dohlman, Erik & Astill, Gregory & Skorbiansky, Sharon Raszap & Abadam, Vidalina & Yeh, D. Adeline & Knight, Russell, 2023. "Federal Programs for Agricultural Risk Management," Economic Information Bulletin 340216, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    10. Malone, Trey & Melstrom, Richard T., 2020. "Where’s the beef? Cattle producers’ response to endangered species listings," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    11. Sarah P. Church & Kristin M. Floress & Jessica D. Ulrich-Schad & Chloe B. Wardropper & Pranay Ranjan & Weston M. Eaton & Stephen Gasteyer & Adena Rissman, 2021. "How water quality improvement efforts influence urban–agricultural relationships," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 38(2), pages 481-498, June.
    12. Sebastian K. Stankiewicz & Rafael Auras & Susan Selke, 2019. "Modeling American Household Fluid Milk Consumption and their Resulting Greenhouse Gas Emissions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-16, April.
    13. Nathan P. Hendricks, 2022. "Would farmers benefit from removing more land from production in the next farm bill?," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 44(3), pages 1139-1157, September.
    14. Britta L. Schumacher & Emily K. Burchfield & Brennan Bean & Matt A. Yost, 2023. "Leveraging Important Covariate Groups for Corn Yield Prediction," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-18, March.
    15. Rachel Soloveichik, 2021. "Tracking Cultivated Assets in Measures of Capital," BEA Working Papers 0189, Bureau of Economic Analysis.
    16. Catherine Brinkley & Marjory Anne Visser, 2022. "Socioeconomic and Environmental Indicators for Rural Communities: Bridging the Scholarly and Practice Gap," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 36(2), pages 75-91, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Vesterby, Marlow & Krupa, Kenneth S., 2001. "Major Uses of Land in the United States, 1997," Statistical Bulletin 262284, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    2. Williamson, Samuel E., 2023. "Zoning with quantity restrictions for managing exurban development patterns," 2023 Annual Meeting, July 23-25, Washington D.C. 335866, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    3. Alexandre Gohin, 2019. "General Equilibrium Modelling of the Insurance Industry: U.S. Crop Insurance," Journal of Global Economic Analysis, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University, vol. 4(2), pages 108-145, December.
    4. Ruben N. Lubowski & Andrew J. Plantinga & Robert N. Stavins, 2008. "What Drives Land-Use Change in the United States? A National Analysis of Landowner Decisions," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 84(4), pages 529-550.
    5. Carrión-Flores, Carmen E. & Flores-Lagunes, Alfonso & Guci, Ledia, 2018. "An estimator for discrete-choice models with spatial lag dependence using large samples, with an application to land-use conversions," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 77-93.
    6. Wang, Haoluan, 2017. "Land Conservation for Open Space: The Impact of Neighbors and the Natural Environment," 2017 Annual Meeting, July 30-August 1, Chicago, Illinois 258125, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    7. Zipp, Katherine Y. & Lewis, David J. & Provencher, Bill, 2017. "Does the conservation of land reduce development? An econometric-based landscape simulation with land market feedbacks," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 19-37.
    8. MacDonald, James M. & Hoppe, Robert A. & Newton, Doris, 2018. "Three Decades of Consolidation in U.S. Agriculture," Economic Information Bulletin 276247, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    9. Möhring, Niklas & Dalhaus, Tobias & Enjolras, Geoffroy & Finger, Robert, 2020. "Crop insurance and pesticide use in European agriculture," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    10. Lubowski, Ruben N. & Plantinga, Andrew J. & Stavins, Robert N., 2003. "Determinants of Land-Use Change In the United States 1982-1997," Discussion Papers 10714, Resources for the Future.
    11. Ferris, Jeffrey & David, Newburn, 2014. "Residential Development And The Effect Of Forest Conservation Policy," 2014 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2014, Minneapolis, Minnesota 170337, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    12. Alig, Ralph J. & Plantinga, Andrew J. & Haim, David & Todd, Maribeth, 2010. "Area Changes in U.S. Forests and Other Major Land Uses, 1982 to 2002, With Projections to 2062," USDA Miscellaneous 338718, United States Department of Agriculture.
    13. Daniel P. Bigelow & Todd Kuethe, 2020. "A Tale of Two Borders: Use‐Value Assessment, Land Development, and Irrigation Investment," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 102(5), pages 1404-1424, October.
    14. Agnieszka Kurdyś-Kujawska & Agnieszka Sompolska-Rzechuła & Joanna Pawłowska-Tyszko & Michał Soliwoda, 2021. "Crop Insurance, Land Productivity and the Environment: A Way forward to a Better Understanding," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-17, November.
    15. Han, Wenjing & Zhang, Xiaoling & Zheng, Xian, 2020. "Land use regulation and urban land value: Evidence from China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    16. Caroline Roussy & Aude Ridier & Karim Chaïb, 2014. "Adoption d’innovations par les agriculteurs : rôle des perceptions et des préférences," Post-Print hal-01123427, HAL.
    17. Jeremy G. Weber & Conor Wall & Jason Brown & Tom Hertz, 2015. "Crop Prices, Agricultural Revenues, and the Rural Economy," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 37(3), pages 459-476.
    18. Wade, Tara & Claassen, Roger, 2015. "Modeling No-Tillage Adoption by Corn and Soybean Producers: Insights into Sustained Adoption," 2015 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 26-28, San Francisco, California 204957, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    19. Lynch, Lori & Geoghegan, Jacqueline, 2011. "FOREWORD: The Economics of Land Use Change: Advancing the Frontiers," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association, vol. 40(3), pages 1-6, December.
    20. Ifft, Jennifer & Jodlowski, Margaret, 2018. "Federal crop insurance participation and adoption of sustainable production practices by U.S. farms," SCC-76 Meeting, 2018, April 5-7, Kansas City, Missouri 276148, SCC-76: Economics and Management of Risk in Agriculture and Natural Resources.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:uersib:263079. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ersgvus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.