02—Lancaster Faming, Saturday, February 16,19»0
We’ve taken land for granted,
now we must preserve it
DOVER, Del. - Prime
agricultural land is the
backbone of our strength as
a nation and it’s time we did
something to protect it,
Donald F. Crossan, dean of
the University of Delaware’s
College of Agricultural
Sciences told a gathering of
fanners, developers and
government officials at a
recent extension-sponsored
land use conference in
Dover.
“We’ve always taken our
farmland for granted,” said
Crossan, “but there’s a
growing awareness that this
natural resource is being
eroded.”
Perhaps the oil crisis has
finally caused us as a nation
to realize that there’s a limit
to certain resources, he
continued. We’re just
beginning to realize that the
time could chine within
our own children’s lifetimes
when Americans can no
longer boast of having the
cheapest, most abundant
food supply of any country in
the world.
It’s staggering to imagine
what such a decline in our
agricultural productivity
would mean file impact on
food prices, U.S. purchasing
power abroad, and our
nation’s general position as a
world leader if no major
advances are made in food
production to counter the
loss of agricultural land, he
said.
Why worry about this now
when we’re already
producing surpluses? he
asked.
Don’t we have agricultural
experiment stations and
Delaware As College dean sa
extension services that are
the envy of the world in the
way they seek out and use
new production knowledge to
further boost yields?
During the past decade,
said the ag college dean,
we’ve suddenly become
aware of the apalhng rate at
which productive land
across the country is leaving
agriculture each year.
Nearly four-fifths of
America’s available
cropland is already being
farmed. When that last 20
percent is cropped, we’ll
have reached the limit of this
resource.
In 1974 when com and
wheat stocks fell
dramatically in the U.S.,
food prices jumped, as did
the world demand for food.
And people suddenly started
looking at the rate at which
we were losing cropland.
An important fact
emerged; between 1967 and
1975, about three million
acres of rural land a year
passed into urban use, or.
was covered with water.
What’s more, for every
acre urbanized, another acre
was isolated by “leapfrog”
development rendering it
difficult to use
agriculturally. This side
effect is just as critical as
the direct loss of farmland,
Crossan stressed.
“Rural areas destined for
future development often
cease to provide a favorable
environment for farming
long before actual sub
division occurs. And isolated
sectors soon lose the ser
vices needed to maintain
production dgncuilutv..
said.
The recent concern over
agricultural land use has
resulted in action at the
federal level, he said.
President Carter highlighted
it as a concern in an en
vironmental 'message last
year. The U.S. Department
of Agriculture has sponsored
a number of land use con
ferences and more are
planned. And Congress is
currently studying a
proposed Agricultural Land
Protection Act.
That Act would authorize
the Secretary of Agriculture
to study the impact of far
mland loss on the national
economy and on the nation’s
balance of trade.
It would also authorize
funds for assistance to states
to help them develop in
novative approaches to
farmland protection. This
points up the fact that the
loss of agricultural land has
become a matter of national
concern.
Some states recognized
long ago that the
irreplaceable loss of far
mland was not in their best
economic interest, Crossan
continued.
Over two decades ago
Maryland adopted property
tax policies that afforded
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preferential treatment for
farmland.
Since then many other
states including Penn
sylvania and Delaware have
adopted similar laws. But
although successful in
providing tax relief, many of
these programs have no#
prevented the development
of farmland for non
agricultural purposes.
During the 1960’s and 70’s
some states began to assert
direct control over land use.
Two states, Hawaii and
Oregon, have created
special agricultural districts
as part of their overall state
land use programs.
Other states and in
some cases, local govern
ments have adopted other
programs specifically
designed to protect far
mland.
In many instances, noted
the ag college dean,' voters
have agreed to a particular
program because they
believed it was in the best
national interest to assure a
reliable food base. Or they
felt the need to conserve land
for environmental reasons,
or felt the need for a
sustained “open space”, or
some other reason.
In any event, through
public meetings, discussion
of alternative plans and fact-
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finding residents of a large
number of states have now
worked out programs they
consider appropriate for
conditions in their own state.
Where concern has been
expressed over possible
economic effects of far
mland preservation on other
sectors of the economy, it
has been shown that states
actually benefit
economically when their
agricultural sector is strong
and commercial develop
ment occurs in harmony
with farming needs.
No one has yet been able to
assess the intrinsic value of
farmland to the nation as a
whole, Crossan said. We
need to examine all the
methods by which state or
local governments can
■w protect this resource fairly,
affordably and permanently.
The challenge is great, but
it’s necessary'to come to
grips with it now so that
informed citizens and
policymakers can seek
equitable solutions before
the loss of agricultural land
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becomes a full-blown
he said.
“Our purpose in ht
public meetings on
issue,” he concluded,"
begin in Delaware
dialogue necessary
understanding the probl
to help people examine
alternative sand ever'
find solutions that are
ceptable to all concerned.
have a
nice weekend..
LEARN SOMETH!
** >