American Farmland Trust Supports Family Farming (Continued from Pag* A 1) took 35 years to accomplish legi slative support. He told them that the farmland preservation momentum has grown and it’s almost to the point of becoming a household topic and concern. “We’re just about to the point where we can stop pushing the snowball and let it go,” he said. However, he also told them that while the various current programs used to preserve farmland need to be continued and made stronger, “We have to take it to another level.” That level, he said, is to link farmland preservation to the val ues that the general public places on high-risk farmland. Preservationists need to look beyond the real, but often repeated arguments to preserve farmland in order to preserve local security of food and fiber. He said that they need to discov er new ways to negotiate new types of agreements between social and community needs and wants, and farmer and landowner needs. He said that those involved with farmland preservation efforts need not be discouraged if the general public doesn’t identify with the security that local farms provide in terms of availability of safe, healthy food and fiber. Instead, he said that the general public needs to be educated to the other aspects of farmland preser vation that provide community well-being watershed protec tion, recreation, wildlife protec tion, and aesthetic beauty (which could well be considered a poorly defined requirement for communi ty mental health). He said that while there is grow ing sentiment against the concept of “corporate farming,” the gener al public continues to hold a high regard for the American family farmer. So, while the reasons for pre serving farmland may be different between farmers and nonfarmers, the goal is the same. That should be recognized, he said, and used to every extent pos sible to help develop new and more creative strategies and solutions to the problems confronting the pre servation of farmland. He said that they should look to join efforts with some non traditional areas and organizations to secure farmland protections. He said the group has to consid er that “farmland protection is a symptom of a larger problem.” That larger problem he said is increased competition for natural resources, not only caused by increases in population, but through less efficient uses of plac ing people on land. Grossi said the problem is not going away. He supported his statement with population growth projections, as well as with exam ples of how urban sprawl, cluster developments, and large lot zoning restrictions have actually allowed some stagnent and shrinking popu lations to occupy up to SO percent more land than previously occupied. He said that generally he believes that farmers are environ mentalists and desire to be good stewards, but that society at large in America tends to place the bur den upon resource (land) owners to provide additional services beyond what the farming business supplies. He said it has to be recognized that some fanners are reluctant to participate in any type of preserva tion program because of the restr ictions being placed upon them to provide free services to the non farming population, such as recre ation, etc. There ate also feats that farmers have in doing some environmen tally beneficial activides, he said, such as encouraging wildlife, which could potentially result in a farm becoming a host to an endan gered species and then having further restrictions placed upon farming operations. He said at the same time there are also efforts to pressure farmers to provide more at their own cost and the landowners are getting squeezed from both ends. That is where the farmland pre servation people need to explore new thinking and agreements. They need to have access to infor mation of programs that can work in certain situations and be ready to provide negotiating services, and to educate and convince the public and legislators that farmers and landowners need to be compen sated in some way for providing additional public services. According to Grossi, the oppor tunity for bringing farmland pre servation efforts to the national forefront seems to be tied into the next Farm Bill. He said that at least a healthy portion of the $6 billion spent on farm support that is to be phased out according to the 1996 Farm Bill should be redirected back into agriculture, not for wasteful short term price manipulations, but to pay for all the additional services the public wants from landowners. He said wetlands programs, stream buffer programs, stream bank fencing, and other such prog rams need to be funded to help pro tect the land from overdevelop ment. The public can’t expect landowners to foot the bill by themselves for the benefit of the public. He urged the group to focus efforts on convincing legislators to take some action to redirect those funds for preservation-effective programs, not social welfare. The entire farmland protection issue is hampered because it is attempting to become a common vision in an unfocused kaleido scope of government and social programs, many at odds with each other. The farmland preservation envi ronment is complex. While it is generally recognized by the agricultural community that the best way to preserve farmland is for fanning to have substantial enough returns on investment to make it a competitive enterprise versus shorter term, high profit uses, such as residential and com mercial development, that recon gition means nothing if it can't be used to be more competitive with non-agricultural land uses. Adding to the problem heavily is that agricultural enterprises around the world are competing with local low-profit farms, pro ducing the same crops under diffe rent circumstances. While it is possible that the same investment/retum ratios and regu latory concerns that rule agricul tural production here may eventu ally even out around the world (as other communities around the world develop similar standards for production), it can be assumed that time will run out for farmland here before that happens. There is no turning back. Once deep-soiled lands current ly used for farmland are converted for any other purpose, such as to site residential properties, it docs not return to agricultural production. The cost of creating land with the soil structure and characteris tics suitable for farming is prohibi tively expensive. Also, those aware of the need to preserve farmland should be keen ly aware that a purely capitalistic system of valuation gives little respect to common resources. The simple capitalistic valua tion principle is that only a com modity in short supply has the most value. Cold War-inspired fear of the word “socialism” belies the fact that the only reason for a govern ment is to provide communities with commonly shared necessities of life. The trend has been that, as those necessities (real or imagined) increase, the demands upon land owners have been increased. In other words, while democrat ically derived mandates have been placed upon landowners, those who desire those mandates haven’t been willing to fund the changes necessary to achieve it That has to change, according to Grossi and others. (Turn to Pago A4l) To fly fishermen around the world who flah for trout, this “Allenberry” stretch of the Yellow Breeches Creek near Boiling Springs is a famous, frequently visited and used site. While it may seem strange to mix farmland preservation with what some consider an elitist outdoor activity, H lan*t, according to American Farmland Trust President Ralph Gross!. It Is at the heart of what the general public expects from farmland preservation conserved resources, watershed protection and recreational and aesthetic opportunities. The American Farmland Trust selscted the Allenberry Resort as the site for its first regional convention held in Pennsylvania. From the left, Robin Sherman, communications special ist with American Farmland Trust, stands with Ralph Gros si, president of the organization, and Raymond Pickering, director of the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture Bureau of Farmland Protection.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers