1. The Standard View of Farm Life in Alabama is That A Lot of Farmland Vanished. In fact, the situation is more complicated. Farmland was transformed. To see how, we have to look at some numbers.

2. Table 1. Land In Farms (in acres, all numbers x 1000) USDA, Economic Research Service (ERS), "Farm Real Estate Historical Series Data, 1950-1992", Statistical Bulletin No. 855 A.B. YearNumber of FarmsLand in Farms 195022021300 195416821200 195912917600 196410216200 1969 8515000 1974 7814600 1978 5912500 1982 5511800 1987 4910700 1992 46 9800

3. What Happened to the Apparently Missing Farmland?

4. Most of it wasn’t actually pure farmland to begin with, so it didn’t actually disappear Most of it was actually mixed light pasture land with moderate hardwood tree cover. This mixed pasture land was converted to other uses, mostly forestland.

5. Table 2. Land Use (in acres, all numbers x 1000) USDA, Economic Research Service (ERS), “Major Land Uses 1945-1992", Stock No. 89003 A.B.C.D.E. YearTotalCropTotalForestWoodland OnlyForestOnlyas Pasture IncludingNo PastureGrazing 194532690826618748 488913859 194932690827118817 830510512 19543269074812076610785 9981 19593267860282077116000 4771 19643254552112174917241 4508 19693245258852174819437 2311 19743245257972133319444 1889 19783245258882133319452 1881 19823249156422117919479 1700 19873249148032165919965 1694 19923248045392194120337 1604 C (Total Forest) = D (Pure Forest) + E (Woodland as Pasture)

6. Confusion Occurs Because: -Sometimes “forestland” (D) is counted as including only “pure” forestland but not including any mixed tree- covered pasture land (E). This forestland (D) increased rapidly in extent. -Sometimes “forestland” (C) is counted as including both “pure” forestland (D) plus tree-covered pasture land (E). This Total Forestland (C) stayed fairly steady in extent.

7. These Major Changes Occurred: -The old mixed pasture land (E) was largely converted to forestland composed mostly of fast-growing evergreens -”Pure” cropland (B) diminished, but only by about half -Total farmland (see Table 1), including “pure” cropland (B) and mixed pastureland (E), decreased considerably, primarily by conversion of old the mixed pasture land to forestland

8. Differing Points of View -To someone who sees only total farmland (from Table 1), it appears as if farming has collapsed -To someone who sees only pure cropland (B), farming declined steadily then bottomed out -To someone who sees only total forestland (C: including old tree-covered pasture land), forest cover has remained steady -To someone who sees only pure forestland (D), fast-growing evergreens replaced nearly all the old mixed pasture that was covered by hardwoods (E)