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Going, Going, Gone: The impact of land fragmentation
on Texas agriculture and wildlife

Data used to construct the map of top 10 percent of counties experiencing rural fragmentation

Table 1: Top 10% of Texas counties ranked by fragmentation rate
Table 2: Top 10% of Texas counties ranked by perent increase in nonagricultural values, 1992-2001
Table 3: Top 10% of Texas counties ranked by loss of farm and ranch lands, 1992-2001

Top 10% of Texas Counties Ranked by Fragmentation Rate*.
5-year Rate of change in % of Farm & Ranch Land (1992-97)
   
Size
Ranking County <500 acres >2000 acres
1 ROCKWALL 35.4 -44.3
2 TRINITY 14.0 -13.5
3 HAYS 10.2 -19.1
4 LIBERTY 8.4 -10.4
5 POLK 6.7 -9.6
6 UPSHUR 8.0 -7.6
7 WALLER 4.7 -9.2
8 MORRIS 3.9 -13.3
9 CHAMBERS 4.1 -6.9
10 SMITH 4.1 -6.5
11 WILSON 4.6 -6.1
12 RAINS 4.0 -7.1
13 MADISON 4.4 -5.6
14 COMAL 3.2 -8.1
15 JONES 5.3 -4.9
16 MONTGOMERY 5.0 -5.1
17 STEPHENS 3.0 -7.7
18 TITUS 2.6 -8.2
19 BAILEY 2.8 -6.4
20 ELLIS 3.4 -5.2
21 LAMAR 4.0 -3.8
22 WISE 6.0 -3.1
23 LA SALLE 2.2 -9.2
24 JOHNSON 4.0 -3.6
25 BANDERA 3.0 -4.5
         
*Gains in % Area of Small Farms & Ranches (<500 acres) and Losses in % Area of Larger Farms & Ranches (>2000 acres), combined.  

 

Top 10% of Texas Counties Ranked by Percent Increase in Non-agricultural Values*, 1992-2001.
    Non-Ag Value ($/acre)    
Ranking County 1992 2001 Increase % Increase
1 COLLINGSWORTH $56 $219 $163 292%
2 HARTLEY $55 $159 $104 191%
3 MONTAGUE $300 $857 $557 185%
4 BLANCO $844 $2,218 $1,374 163%
5 WILLIAMSON $1,290 $3,201 $1,911 148%
6 WISE $752 $1,782 $1,030 137%
7 COLLIN $4,608 $10,727 $6,119 133%
8 YOUNG $219 $495 $276 126%
9 KENDALL $956 $2,138 $1,182 124%
10 OLDHAM $45 $97 $52 116%
11 BURNET $718 $1,502 $784 109%
12 DICKENS $41 $85 $44 108%
13 CALDWELL $647 $1,342 $695 107%
14 BASTROP $827 $1,699 $872 105%
15 ANGELINA $550 $1,125 $574 104%
16 GILLESPIE $956 $1,927 $971 102%
17 TRAVIS $2,307 $4,533 $2,226 96%
18 SAN SABA $372 $730 $357 96%
19 ROCKWALL $1,936 $3,749 $1,813 94%
20 CASTRO $112 $216 $104 93%
21 LLANO $634 $1,226 $591 93%
22 JACK $362 $694 $332 92%
23 LAMPASAS $422 $801 $378 90%
24 DALLAM $88 $166 $78 89%
25 ROBERTS $31 $57 $26 86%
* Non-agricultural Value = Market Value - Productivity Value.

 

Top 10% of Texas Counties Ranked by Loss of Farm and Ranch Lands, 1992-2001.
   
Farm & Ranch Area (acres)
Ranking County 1992 2001 Loss % Loss
1 BEXAR 364,597 302,530 -62,067 -17.0
2 TARRANT 153,856 131,476 -22,380 -14.5
3 MONTGOMERY 368,389 330,118 -38,271 -10.4
4 HARRISON 469,290 421,676 -47,614 -10.1
5 DALLAS 79,094 71,214 -7,880 -10.0
6 POLK 532,270 483,590 -48,680 -9.1
7 WILLIAMSON 606,467 552,963 -53,504 -8.8
8 COMAL 293,525 268,112 -25,413 -8.7
9 COLLIN 394,902 362,684 -32,218 -8.2
10 CAMERON 359,091 333,315 -25,776 -7.2
11 SOMERVELL 95,059 88,671 -6,388 -6.7
12 WARD 254,247 237,590 -16,657 -6.6
13 HARRIS 185,785 174,053 -11,732 -6.3
14 SABINE 186,869 175,363 -11,506 -6.2
15 DENTON 429,026 402,919 -26,107 -6.1
16 LAMPASAS 535,227 504,633 -30,594 -5.7
17 ROCKWALL 72,399 68,293 -4,106 -5.7
18 HOOD 256,229 243,499 -12,730 -5.0
19 GUADALUPE 320,059 305,623 -14,436 -4.5
20 CHAMBERS 273,197 261,713 -11,484 -4.2
21 HAYS 349,214 334,544 -14,670 -4.2
22 BELL 489,350 468,841 -20,509 -4.2
23 TRAVIS 211,117 203,025 -8,092 -3.8
24 FORT BEND 355,487 342,356 -13,131 -3.7
25 LUBBOCK 441,017 425,545 -15,472 -3.5
           
Total   8,077,755 7,496,347 -581,417 -7.2

 

Contact Us
Bob Wagner
Managing Director, Field Programs
1 Short Street, Suite 2
Northampton, MA 01060
(p) 800-370-4879 (f) 413-586-9332
bwagner@farmland.org

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