My guess also, looking at the number of farms-turned-to-subdivisions, parks and green areas along the East Coast, is that better logistics and transport has fur

My guess also, looking at the number of farms-turned-to-subdivisions, parks and green areas along the East Coast, is that better logistics and transport has further improved the efficiency of distributing goods from megafarms in the midwest, making the need for smaller and less efficient traditional colonial-era farms obsolete. At the same time, the midwest, especially the great plains area, were always tree sparse.