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Planning could lessen impact of urban sprawl

Pick any state and you are likely to find examples of urban sprawl, where farmland is being converted into subdivisions and industry.

And those examples are not just found around large metropolitan areas such as Kansas City, Chicago, St. Louis and Des Moines. Ag land is disappearing around other growing cities throughout the Midwest.

A report written in 2022 from the American Farmland Trust suggests this trend is likely to continue. In the report, the organization said from 2001 to 2016, the U.S. lost or compromised 2,000 acres of farmland every day. If the trend continues, another 18.4 million acres will be converted between 2016 and 2040. That is roughly the size of the state of South Carolina.

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Dr. Chris Wilson: Remote Sensing in Agriculture

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The Crop Science Podcast Show, Dr. Chris Wilson from the University of Florida shares his expertise on forages, agroecology, and the integration of ecological science in crop production systems. He explains how data from satellite imagery and remote sensing can help optimize productivity and addresses the challenges of carbon credits in sustainable agriculture. Tune in now on all major platforms!

"We used satellite data to model forage biomass and quality, giving us large spatial coverage that informs management decisions and impacts on ecosystem services."