(Boone County, Ky.) – With all the strip malls, home developments, and an international airport you wouldn’t think so, but a new report shows that a surprising amount of Boone County is still farmland.

The “Rural Treasure - State of Boone County Agriculture” report was released Wednesday by the Boone County Farm Initiative - a coalition of representatives from the Boone County Cooperative Extension Service, Boone County Farm Bureau, Northern Kentucky Horse Network, Northern Kentucky Cattle Association, interested citizens, and the Conservation District. The study was funded by a grant from the Kentucky Soil and Water Commission.

The study shows 47 percent of Boone County land is still in farms.

However, the number of county residents who claimed agriculture as their primary occupation was at 276 in 2007, compared to 363 in 2002. Of those 276 farmers, 14 percent were women.

The number of farms also fell by 8.2 percent during that same timeframe.