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It may be hard to imagine, but
"As late as the 1940s, Los Angeles County led the nation in
farming income," according to an article in the May, 2003, Washington
Post. Now it leads the nation in human population density. Elsewhere
in California, about 50,000 acres of farmland vanish each year.
Farmland in other states suffers the same fate. "Georgia, Ohio,
and Texas each have had more than 150,000 acres of agricultural
land consumed in recent years by development that is being stoked
both by population growth and the fervent desire that many homeowners
now have for more space: Average property lot sizes have doubled
in the past two decades."
The future holds more of the same for farmland. According to a study by the
American Farmland Trust released in 2002, "Housing developments are
encroaching on the wide open spaces of the rural West and could replace more
than 24
million acres of ranchland by 2020." More food to feed more people suggests a
need for more farmland and ranchland. Instead, both are disappearing rapidly.
Food from the oceans? Fred Krupp, Director of Environmental Defense, wrote,
". . . around the world fisheries are collapsing. The main reason? Too many
boats chasing too few fish." More accurately, he might have written, too many
people wanting to eat too few fish. The effect is the same, oceans are not
likely to save us.
If you are concerned about disappearing farmland, there is one
organization whose stated purpose is "to stop the loss of productive
farmland and to promote farming practices that lead to a healthy
environment." To learn more about this organization, please
click on American Farmland Trust. |
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