Peak Oil Task Force Report - City of Bloomington - State of Indiana

Regional Land and Population
The prime agricultural land in the seven‐county region surrounding Bloomington (Monroe,
Brown, Greene, Owen, Lawrence, Morgan, and Jackson counties) equals 1,232 square miles.
While that is enough land to sustain over four times the population of Bloomington (based
on current patterns of consumption and average agricultural yields by present methods), it
is only enough for about 85 percent of the population of the region—still not enough prime
farmland to feed the seven‐county region a standard American diet.
PRIME AGRICULTURAL ACERAGE
AND
POPULATION OF 7­COUNTY REGION SURROUNDING
BLOOMINGTON 232
PRIME AS
% OF
TOTAL POPULATION
COUNTY TOTAL LAND
PRIME
FARMLAND
Monroe 262,899 59,941 22.8 128,643
Brown 203,137 16,251 8.0 14,760
Greene 349,637 175,518 50.2 32,692
Owen 248,193 108,212 43.6 22,398
Lawrence 289,508 74,114 25.6 46,033
Morgan 261,847 154,228 58.9 69,874
Jackson 329,074 200,406 60.9 42,184
TOTAL 1,944,295 788,670 40.6 356,254
It is important to qualify these numbers. More land may be available for agriculture than is
presently indicated by the category, "prime farmland," which is defined by the U.S.D.A. as
"prime and important farmable soils, possibly needing some drainage or flood protection in
some areas, but not requiring large‐scale amendment, preparation, grading, or terracing to
be used as highly productive farmland for a large variety of crops." 233 Despite this
definition, an examination of the region’s agricultural history paints a more productive
picture of the land available to us for food production.
232 Adapted from U.S. Census of Agriculture, 2007.
233 Soil Survey Staff. "Soil Survey Manual". Soil Conservation Service. U.S. Department of Agriculture
Handbook, 1993. http://soils.usda.gov/technical/manual/print_version/complete.html.
Report of the Bloomington Peak Oil Task Force 180