Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Editorial: Saving family farms from rows of houses
A worthy idea has germinated in Bedford to help farmers hang onto their land.
From the RoundTable blog
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When the price on the head of beef falls far below the value of the land on which the cattle graze, family farmers find it increasingly difficult to stave off the temptation to cash in to developers who itch to plant more rows of upscale houses.
In rapidly growing Bedford County, where rural acreage has risen in value between 100 percent and 150 percent in the last couple of years, the number of farms continues to shrink and the profits to dwindle. Farmers find few incentives to scratch out a living planting crops when developers offer wagon loads of green stuff.
But what if the farms turned substantial profits? That's a possibility county supervisors will be asked to explore.
A contingent of farmers and open-space advocates want the supervisors to launch an initiative to help family farmers find a niche in a factory-farm economy.
No one wants a handout. Quite the contrary. The coalition plans to harness the brainpower of Bedford's farmers, land preservationists and government officials to look for ways to make the farms more profitable (early suggestions include growing crops for fuel and raising horses).
As long as family farms stay viable, chances increase that the land will remain untouched by development. Bedford is running out of time if it wishes to work with its remaining farmers. As more people clamor to build homes in Bedford, land values rise and developers drop large sums on speculation.
The irony that should not be lost on supervisors during the heydays of Bedford's building boom is that the same scenic beauty that lures new residents is compromised through rapid development. Supervisors should do what they can in working with the farmers and land conservationists to find new ways to preserve old farms.
They should recognize that more than just the landscape changes when large tracts of land are voraciously consumed for houses.
Plenty of land exists in Bedford for planned and controlled growth to coexist with viable farms.
