Agricultural production is a major use of land, accounting for over half of the U.S. land base

U.S. land area amounts to nearly 2.3 billion acres, with nearly 1.2 billion acres in agricultural lands. The proportion of the land base in agricultural uses declined from 63 percent in 1949 to 51 percent in 2007, the latest year for which data are available. Gradual declines have occurred in cropland and pasture/range, while grazed forestland has decreased more rapidly. In 2007, 408 million acres of agricultural land were in cropland (-17 percent from 1949), 614 million acres were in pasture and range (-3 percent), 127 million acres were in grazed forestland (-52 percent), and 12 million acres were in farmsteads and farm roads (-19 percent).