United States Department of Agriculture
Natural Resources Conservation Service		 Kentucky Go to Accessibility Information
Skip to Page Content





NRI - Cultivated Cropland,Noncultivated Cropland, CRP in Kentucky

NRI Chart of cultivated, noncultivated and CRP cropland


Cropland Classification for the National Resources Inventory:
  • Cultivated Cropland: Includes all row and close grown crops, truck crops, and all no-till planted crops such as no-till corn or beans.
  • Non-cultivated Cropland: Includes hayland, orchards, and vineyards.
  • Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) Land: Highly erodible cropland that was taken out of crop production and left in permanent cover. This program was initiated in 1985.

Cultivated cropland acreage in Kentucky has decreased from about 4.74 million acres in 1982 to about 3.51 million acres in 1997. Non-cultivated cropland acreage in Kentucky has increased from about 1.20 million acres in 1982 to about 1.66 million acres in 1997.

A portion of the acreage lost in cultivated cropland from 1982 to 1997 changed over to non-cultivated cropland. About 40 percent of the decrease in cultivated cropland acres changed to non-cultivated cropland acres from 1982 to 1997.

A portion of the acreage lost in cultivated cropland acreage was also put into the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) which was initiated in 1985 to take highly erodible cropland out of crop production. In 1992 there were 423,000 acres of CRP land and 332,000 acres in 1997.

Most of the remaining acres that changed from being cropland in 1982 shifted to Urban/Built-up land by 1997.

 

< Back to NRI Findings ...