Keep Farmland for Farmers

[groovedaddy]

CLERMONT, N.Y. — WHEN we went looking in upstate New York for a home for our farm, we feared competition from deep-pocketed developers, a new subdivision or a big-box store. These turned out to be the least of our problems.

Though the farms best suited for our vegetables were protected from development by conservation easements, we discovered that we couldn’t compete, because conserved farmland is open to all buyers — millionaires included.

Easements are intended to protect farmland, water, animal habitat, historic sites and scenic views, and so they are successful in keeping farms from becoming malls and subdivisions. But they don’t stop Wall Street bankers from turning them into private getaways, with price tags to match.

Few bankers farm; long days with little pay lack appeal. A new report by the National Young Farmers Coalition, a group we helped start, reveals that one-quarter of the land trusts that oversee these conservation easements have seen protected land go out of production. Why? A nonfarmer had bought it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/01/opinion/keep-farmland-for-farmers.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20131001&_r=0

[newfie11]

1. In my area western Nebraska panhandle

Rich investors from back east are buying up farm ground. They are the reason farm ground has gone up so much.
We just sold our farm to buyers from Maryland who will hire someone to work it and continue living on the east coast.
We got a very good price but thinking about others starting out in farming is scary.
I don't know how the average guy can do it.

[gejohnston]

2. better an easement than

just another subdivision and a mall. Or golf course, which I really hate.