41 million acres of rural land has been permanently lost in the last 25 years to highways, shopping malls, poorly planned sprawl and other development, according to a new analysis by the American Farmland Trust<\/a>. Of that amount, 23 million acres (an area the size of Indiana) was agricultural land. The rate of recent farmland loss has been an astounding acre per minute.<\/p>\n There has been a resurgence of interest across the country in fresh, healthy, locally grown food<\/a>. But the farms that supply local food, those closest to our urban areas, are the most vulnerable and tend to be lost the fastest. Moreover, farmland close to the urban\/suburban edge is frequently our most productive for supplying food on the tables of American families:<\/p>\n \u201cAmerica\u2019s cities sprang up where the land was the richest. Today, the farms closest<\/a> <\/a>to our urban areas produce an astounding 91% of our fruit and 78% of our vegetables<\/a>, but they remain the most threatened. In addition, many of these at-risk, urban-edge farms are the ones growing fresh food for farmers markets, CSA\u2019s [community-supported agriculture services] and other direct-to-consumer outlets. And our prime agricultural land \u2013<\/strong> the farmland that has the ideal combination of good soils, climate and growing conditions \u2013<\/strong> are being converted at a disproportionately higher rate.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"location](\"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/4847185904_8b98a6e809_e.jpg\" "\\"location")
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