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Executive Summary
Colorado’s finest ranches and croplands are
disappearing faster than ever before. Since 1992,
Colorado has lost 2.89 million acres of agricultural
land. Increased rural large-lot development and
weakening agricultural economies contribute to the
rapid loss of agricultural land, now nearly 690 acres
per day, threatening the future of rural Colorado, our
statewide economy, and key natural resources.
Summary of Agricultural Land
Loss
Between 1997 and 2002 Colorado lost 1.26 million
acres of agricultural land, averaging 690 acres per
day. Colorado is third in the nation, behind Texas
and New Mexico, for overall agricultural land lost in
the past five years.
• The state’s total acreage of cultivated cropland
declined by 29%.
• Mesa County lost 17,000 acres; Elbert County lost
35,000 acres.
• The Eastern Plain counties of Lincoln, Kit Carson,
and Cheyenne lost over 400,000 acres combined.
Between 1987 and 2002:
• Colorado lost over 2.5 million acres of agricultural
land with an average of 460 acres per day.
• Weld County, the state’s highest and the nation’s
fifth highest grossing county in agricultural sales,
lost 271,491 acres of agricultural land. Yuma
County, Colorado’s second highest grossing
county in agriculture sales, lost 112,121 acres of
agricultural land.
• El Paso and Pueblo counties lost 11% and 9%
respectively of their total agricultural land, almost
200,000 acres combined.
• La Plata and Larimer counties lost over 50,000
acres each.
• The resort communities were hit particularly
hard, led by Eagle County which lost 46% of its
agricultural land in this 15 year period.
Future Projections
If present trends continue, Colorado will continue to
lose considerable amounts of agricultural land in the
coming decades.
• By 2022 Colorado will lose 3.1 million more acres
of agricultural land.
• Large-lot, rural development is projected to
increase by at least 42%; close to 3 million acres of
rural land will be developed before 2030.
• Ranchland loss will transform the geography of
the state. For instance, 17% of the land area in
Saguache and 21% in Montrose County would be
transformed from today’s usage.
Why Colorado is Losing
Agricultural Land
Colorado is losing a large portion of its agricultural
land to rural development and faltering agricultural
economies.
The biggest threat to agricultural land is large-lot
residential development, commonly classified as one
house per 2 to 40 acres. Between 1960 and 1990
the land area developed into ex-urban homes and
rural ranchettes grew three times faster than the
population growth rate.
Land policy regulates development under 35 acres,
but larger lots are exempt from the subdivision
review process. Currently, subdivisions 35 acres
and greater are proliferating in Colorado’s open
spaces.1 Between 1972 and 2000, 2 million acres
of agricultural land was lost in tracts sized just big
enough to avoid regulation.
Farmers
and ranchers face increasing economic pressure to sell as farm and
ranch land is appreciating in value. The average real estate value for
agricultural land increased 16% between 1999 and 2003, to $730 per
acre. The yearly interest accrued from the profits of a multi-million
dollar sale of ranchland is often more than property owners can earn
from ranching in that same year.
In addition, agriculture in Colorado has become
relatively less profitable in recent years. While a
drought plagued producers in 2002, overall farm
sales in real dollars have been in a steady decline
since 1990. In 2002, 60% of Colorado’s farms and
ranches had total annual sales of less than $10,000.
Since 1992 the average farm size has decreased by
21%, and between 1997 and 2002 the amount of
debt versus equity for Colorado farms rose to 18% as
average production costs increased.
Social factors also influence trends in rural areas.
Many children of farmers and ranchers are choosing
careers outside of agriculture, leaving no one to
operate family farms. The average age of farmers is
55, up from below 50 in 1972.
Impacts
Colorado’s farm and ranchlands are some of the
state’s most valuable assets; the loss of this scenic
open space impacts Coloradans’ quality of life as well
as threatens those who profit economically from
Colorado’s natural landscape.
Economic
• 33% of Colorado counties report that agriculture
plays a crucial economic role; losing family farms
to residential development halts economic growth
in rural locations and stops towns from creating
wealth locally.
• Municipal budgets will be tightly squeezed. Large
lot rural developments in Colorado represent
$1.65 in infrastructure costs for every tax dollar
they bring in; private agricultural land provides
almost double the revenue than it costs to deliver
their services.
• $550 million in revenue from the tourism industry
will be threatened. Statistics from Gunnison
County visitors indicate that 58% of tourists
would limit their visits to the area if the farms and
ranches were transformed into developments.
Environmental
• Lost open space leads directly to a decline in water
quality and an increase in pollution. New septic
systems increase waste nutrient counts in surface
and ground water, and pollutants are unable to
filter naturally through topsoil as rainwater runs
directly off paved surfaces into drains.
• Air quality will suffer following increased
development. By 2020 drivers will be spending
twice as much time in their cars as their homes
get further from urban centers, and emission levels
will elevate.
• Large lot development fragments habitats. Roads
and other associated buildings cut through once
open ranchland. Habitats are altered and isolated,
and the ecosystem balance is disturbed.
Recommendations
Colorado is at a crucial stage—as a state, we must
take action to protect Colorado’s working landscapes,
or else we risk losing much of the agricultural land
that protects Colorado’s environmental well being,
provides the state with a solid economic foundation,
and sustains our rural communities.
Leaders from all stakeholder groups should unite to
begin an open and productive discussion to identify
a set of policy options that are politically and socially
feasible for combating agricultural land loss. Ideas
for discussion could include, but are not limited
to: developing strategies that would make it easier
for local farmers and ranchers to keep their land in
production, studying the mechanics and feasibility
of increasing conservation funding, and exploring
options for managing growth. Working together,
Coloradans can effectively mitigate the harms
of agricultural land loss in a way that protects the
interests of all involved.
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