The change of corn and soybean acres in the United States corn belt

Geographical regions across the United States have stayed evident over the years. However, within the regions change is apparent over time. This study examines the changes of corn and soybean acres within the Corn Belt region to define where the dominant changes have occurred in recent years. By examining the crops individually the changes in the region are explored.;Data from the United States Department of Agriculture is used to perform this study. The Census of Agriculture data is used to find change from the year 2002 to 2007. The National Agriculture Statistical Services satellite imagery data is used to find change from 2006 to 2007. Both of these data types use the acres of corn and soybeans across the region to find change.;Maps from both data sets are created to show the classification of acres across the region. The areas of high and low acres for each crop are identified. Standard deviational ellipses are created for the entire Corn Belt region and for each state to show where the change occurred. Changes that occur are the amount of acres and directional shifts, which are evident from the standard deviational ellipses.;The standard deviational ellipses show the same changes for the Census of Agriculture and the National Agriculture Statistics Service in the Corn Belt region. The corn acres increase and the region shifts northwest from 2002 to 2006 and from 2006 to 2007. The amount of soybean acres stays about the same and shifts slightly for the same years.