ISDA: Indiana’s farmland inventory decreased by around 350,000 acres from 2010-22

INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana’s total inventory of farmland decreased by about 350,000 acres from 2010-22, according to a new report from the State Department of Agriculture.

The report was commissioned in 2023 when the Indiana General Assembly passed House Enrolled Act 1557, which required the ISDA to determine how much farmland the Hoosier State lost over a 13-year period from 2010 to 2022.

While assembling the report, the ISDA determined Indiana had seen an overall reduction in farmland acres ranging from 1.5% to 2%.

The results of the study indicate the land was mostly lost in areas around the edges of cities and other suburban areas. The ISDA indicated that the land lost was primarily repurposed for residential use.

“Agriculture is, and always has been, the lifeblood of the Hoosier State,” Indiana Lt. Gov. and Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development Suzanne Crouch said via release. “Data is critical for all levels of government when making decisions that may affect our rural communities and food security.”

The ISDA used two primary sources to gather information for the report — parcel data from the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance (IDLGF) and data from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The USDA’s National Agriculture Statistics Service (NASS) and Crop Data Layer (CDL) were used to create the report.

“The inventory of lost farmland was an opportunity for ISDA and legislators to gain access to reliable data, where up until now, we could only make assumptions,” ISDA director Don Lamb said via release. “This information is important to have for policy development as we work to balance economic growth, food security and the preservation of agricultural land, because we know when agriculture is strong, Indiana is too.”

The ISDA indicated that, despite the acreage loss it reported, yield data from the USDA’s NASS showed that the Hoosier State’s production of cash crops has increased. Indiana produced 597 million bushels of corn for grain in 2012. By 2022, the state yielded more than 1 billion bushels.

Indiana’s soybean yield increased from 219 million bushels in 2012 to 326 million in 2022.

After it released its report, the ISDA recommended new legislation be passed to allow the organization to update the state’s inventory of lost farmland every five years.

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