Farm land suppresses cloud formation above it?

The rabbit-proof fence — or bunny fence — in Western Australia was completed in 1907 and stretches about 2,000 miles. It acts as a boundary separating native vegetation from farmland. Within the fence area, scientists have observed a strange phenomenon: above the native vegetation, the sky is rich in rain-producing clouds. But the sky on the farmland side is clear.

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Within the last few decades, about 32 million acres of native vegetation have been converted to croplands west of the bunny fence. On the agricultural side of the fence, rainfall has been reduced by 20 percent since the 1970s.

The article lists a few hypotheses for why this has happened. But the real interesting thing about this is what it portends for the future. As population growth and rising affluence increase the demand for food more land will get worked by farmers. Will this cause droughts? Will increased farming of land reduce rain enough to cause a reduction in total production in areas which become the most heavily farmed?

The human footprint on the Earth grows larger every year. Think about it.