Mike Pearson is taking a look at the number of corn and soybean fields converted from corn and soybean fields to residential and other developments.

A team of ag economists from the University of Illinois has the answers.

According to the study, the last 20 years have seen significant changes in land use with 1.6 million acres in agriculture land lost.

Over 55 percent of the land or roughly 877,000 acres have been converted to developed land largely due to urbanization and infrastructure expansion.

The remaining land was transformed into forest, open water or grassland. There was a loss of 105,000 in acreage lost across Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Indiana and Wisconsin topped the list of loss.

The cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, and the city of Indianapolis, Indiana, lost a significant amount of ag land due to urban sprawl.

Farm Progress America is a daily look at key issues in agriculture. It is produced and presented by Mike Pearson, farm broadcaster and host of This Week in Agribusiness.