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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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How Have Recent Rains Changed Oklahoma Soil Conditions? - Mesonet Weather Report

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Recent rainfall has brought noticeable changes to soil moisture conditions across Oklahoma. In this edition of the Mesonet Weather Report, State Climatologist Gary McManus examines how recent rains have impacted soil conditions and what the latest data reveals about moisture levels across the state.