NRCS Colorado Cropland

Colorado Cropland Trends

Approximately twenty percent of the nations total land base is used for the production of crops. In Colorado approximately thirteen percent of the total land base is used in cropland production.

Click here for a graph of Colorado Cropland Trends                 
This graph shows that In 1982 Colorado had 10,603,500 acres of cropland.i By 1997, approximately 1,834,000 acres were taken out of production. Most of the acreage went into the conservation reserve program.

Cropland Use

Wheat is the dominant crop in Colorado making up 31% of the cultivated cropland acreage. Summer Fallow made up 27% of acreage with most of the acres involved in a wheat fallow rotation. Corn comes in a distant second of the planted crops at 13% of the cultivated acreage. Other crops such as sorghum, barley, sunflowers, oats, etc. make up the rest of the acreage. Truck crops, (such as tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, etc.) although small in acreage, are an important crop in some areas of Colorado.

Hayland is found across the state and accounts for approximately 1,468,200 acres. Legume-hayland makes up 46% of total hayland acreage. 37% of the hayland is grass-hayland with the remaining acreage a legume-grass mix.

Revised: 2001

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