Farming civilized mankind. Agriculture spawned the rise of cities, the creation of civilizations and the invention of, well, nearly everything.
The calendar, for example, was invented to track planting and harvesting dates. Stonehenge is but one early example. Even today, our calendar still marks Halloween – a holiday with agricultural roots.
These days nearly all of our food comes from a supply that is based on large-scale, Midwest-based agribusiness. Small farms throughout the northeastern United States are succumbing to development. They are no longer needed.
Or are they?
Farming is increasingly recognized as a bulwark against urbanization. Local farms create local jobs and a local source of food, but they also save pockets of undeveloped land. A 20-acre farm will have just a few buildings, and rarely is every acre cultivated. It is largely open space – and every acre is on the tax rolls.
Here on Cape Cod, an influx of people wishing to live near beaches and boating is urbanizing our rural landscape and putting pressure on local farms. In Harwich, a local farmer and the town spent nearly $30,000 fighting each other over the farmer’s right to build a barn. That fight was started by a neighbor.
In Falmouth, the dispute over the Coonamessett River cranberry bogs was based largely on an ignorance of cranberry farming and its practices. Falmouth’s town-owned bogs may lie fallow this year – and the annual Cranberry Harvest & Farm Festival may be canceled – because local officials have been unwilling to listen to farming advocates and quell the unsubstantiated complaints.
Incidents like these drive small, local farmers away. They do not have the resources to fight irrational complaints and unsubstantiated claims, and rather than stand their ground, the farmers sell to the highest bidder – usually a developer.
A common reaction to this is to buy land for open space. However, this removes property from the tax rolls, increases taxes, and reduces the overall supply of land, which drives up the cost of other available land – and therefore housing – contributing to the 40B developments that so many decry.
Agriculture could be the answer to these issues. By supporting our local farms and/or buying development rights – instead of the land itself – we save money, keep local jobs local, open space open, and stem the tide of urbanization.
Furthermore, the saying “Think globally; act locally” is especially true in farming. While our food supply is generally safe, when we export our food production to other states or nations, we export control over the safety of our food. Sometimes it comes back to bite us, as in California spinach tainted with E. coli, contaminated wheat from China in our pets’ food, or salmonella in peanut butter.
When we celebrate Earth Day Sunday, we should also celebrate local agriculture. Unlike some distant agribusiness, you can know your local farmer; the spinach he sells is fresher, and it took a lot less oil to get it to your table than the stuff from California.
Farms need not only the understanding and support of neighbors, but the protection of government. Local agricultural commissions and right-to-farm bylaws are a start, but local government that actually recognizes the value of local farms and works to protect them is even more important. When local government fails to do this – as it did in Harwich and Falmouth – it isn’t just one farmer, but our entire community that suffers.
Farming helped create civilization. It can also help preserve this piece of civilization that we call Cape Cod.
(This was also featured as an op-ed in the April 20, 2007 Cape Cod Times, and can be read here)
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