VW County ranks high for farmland

VW independent staff

Van Wert County is among the top counties in Ohio in terms of farmland, according to a new set of rankings issued by the website Stacker.com.

There are more than 10 million acres of farmland across the state, including 234,000 acres in Van Wert County, which makes up 2.3 percent of Ohio’s total. The county, which ranks 11th among 88 counties in farmland, has 2,640 farms and common soybeans are planted on 129,183 acres, or 55.4 percent of the county’s farmland.

Darke County ranks first in farmland with 308,012 acres, followed by Wood County (306,467 acres), Putnam County (276,899 acres), Mercer County (275,187 acres) and Seneca County (262,098 acres). Pickaway, Hardin, Hancock, Crawford and Henry counties round out the top 10.

Ohio has lost more than 312,000 acres of agricultural land since 2001, due in part to commercial, industry and residential development.

More information can be found here.