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livingontheland - Re: [Livingontheland] Loss of Farms and Productive Farmland

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  • From: "Barbara Fischer" <cen12205@centurytel.net>
  • To: "Healthy soil and sustainable growing" <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Loss of Farms and Productive Farmland
  • Date: Mon, 7 Aug 2006 18:30:38 -0500

You can always do as my family has for the past 4 generations. We have a
tenant farmer who farms our land. The last couple of years the one I have
has not lived on the place as he has his own house about a mile over. I
have refurnbished the house (2 years in the doing) and now am ready to rent
just the house. I really hate to.....I have enjoyed going up there and
staying for a week or so, but one cannot leave a house vacant.....invitation
to vandals. Be sides, I guess I could use the rent.

Barbara
----- Original Message -----
From: "TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>
To: <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Monday, August 07, 2006 11:23 AM
Subject: [Livingontheland] Loss of Farms and Productive Farmland


>
> Loss of Farms and Productive Farmland
> http://www.lastgreatplaces.org/berkshire/geography/art6552.html
>
> Looking at our landscape today, you'd never know that fifty working farms
> once enlivened Egremont. Today, you'll find only three farms in that town;
> the land of one farm recently sold for $1 million.
>
> Such drastic reductions in farms and farm lands aren't just occurring in
> Egremont; they're occurring all over the Berkshire Taconic Landscape.
>
> Why are farms being lost?
> 1. Pressure from development. The rising prices of land, as well as the
low
> profits offered by farming, are making it increasingly harder for farmers
> to resist selling all or part of their farms.
> 2. Generation gaps. Farmers are finding it increasingly difficult to find
> people to carry on their work. Younger generations are much less likely to
> choose the challenging life of farming. Often, when a key farm leader or
> employee retires or leaves, the farm falls apart because that person isn't
> replaceable.
> 3. Start-up cost. As the value of land and houses continues to rise,
> outside farmers are unable to purchase farms in this landscape.
> 4. Retirement Funds. Most long-term farming families have more invested in
> their land than in retirement income. As their single greatest asset, some
> farmers rely on selling their land to support their retirements. The
people
> who buy the farmland are increasingly interested in developing it or using
> it as a second home rather than farming it.
> Sheep farm in Alford
> Small farms face the constant threat of development.
> © Samantha Williams
>
> Other pressures on farms
> Farmers are also losing the infrastructure of support that they need to
> continue farming. Without a "critical mass" of farms in a region, many
> farm-based businesses and services no longer find it efficient to continue
> supporting that region with their goods. Many local farming-related
> businesses, including farming supply stores, no longer carry essential
farm
> equipment. Instead they offer products like bird feeders and yard and
> garden tools. That makes it hard for local farmers to get the supplies
they
> need. And milk trucks may only come by for pickup if there are enough
dairy
> farms on a route, leaving the last surviving dairy farmers without
> transportation for their milk.
>
> Restoring and Maintaining Farms
> Many organizations and individuals are working to protect and restore
> working farms; many state and federal funds are now available to farmers
to
> help them keep their land and maintain its productivity. The Massachusetts
> Agricultural Protection Restriction (APR) Program is a competitive program
> that places conservation easements on eligible farmland. Under this
> program, the state government pays farmers for the permanent development
> rights of their farmland, and the farmer only pays taxes on the reduced
> value of the land. Agricultural easements are also used in Connecticut and
> New York.
>
> Many people who are working to keep local agriculture thriving believe
that
> the issue of loss of farms is inseparable from the issue of affordable
> housing and that farms can be viable if we can keep land and homes
> affordable. The Community Land Trust in the Southern Berkshires combines
> affordable housing, farm preservation, and conservation in an innovative
> land ownership partnership.
>
> Farmers are also working hard to get connected with local customers,
> through restaurant partnerships, farmers markets, and the cultivation of
> products for specialized markets.
> --------------
>
>
> paul tradingpost@lobo.net
>
> Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes.
> --Henry David Thoreau
>
>
>
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> Livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/livingontheland
>
>





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