Question about farmland, and housing developments in the U.S.A.? Does it bother you that 55% of the farmland that comes up every year here in the U.S.A. becomes a housing development, instead of being sold and used for farmland?

Does it concern you that the U.S.A. is loosing farmland at such a fast pace?

Additional Details

2 months ago

farleyjredfield...I stated that 55% of the farmland that COMES UP FOR SALE is turned into housing developments. Not 55% of the farmland every year. The U.S.A. currently has about 1 billion acres under agriculture right now.

My facts come from the American Farmland Trust, and the Department of Agriculture.

Best Answer

The folly of this will become apparent sooner rather than later.

I happen to live in an area with some of the finest soil and growing conditions in the world.

It breaks my heart to see it, every time.

I%26#039;ve invested considerable thought in this. This is another facet of the overall problem.

We subsidize everything under the sun, except for a tax break so that land can remain undeveloped and stay in farming families. The value of the assessment creeps up as the metropolis encroaches, then it becomes impossible to pay the prevailing tax rate with traditional farm income. If the taxes aren%26#039;t paid, the bank takes the land and sells it. Even if the bank doesn%26#039;t take the land outright, they still take, in the form of mortgage interest, from the new owners. And they do it over and over again, generation after generation.

My mother’s family once owned hundreds of acres (maybe thousands, I%26#039;m not sure). It was lost to foreclosure, tax sale, Great Depression.

I would like to keep our family property in the family. My siblings want their money now. I want the land. I%26#039;m going to need it; sooner rather than later. I%26#039;m sorely disappointed I can%26#039;t buy it outright; so I will be buying the house from the bank, again, to buy out my brothers and sisters.

I swear, if I have anything to do with it, this will be the last time.

To the cornucopian free market capitalists who claim pure libertarianism - the world is finite. It doesn%26#039;t matter if I think there is already too much power at the top, or if you think a Socialist one world conspiracy will destroy freedom for us all. Either way we are destroying everything and soon there will be nothing left for any of us. The point is soon we won%26#039;t be able to produce enough food, and that time is approaching much faster than you think.

Once the land is destroyed it can%26#039;t be replaced. I see a future of intensive gardening on suburban lots, by people who wished they hadn%26#039;t killed the soil for the sake of showing off a green monoculture of grass.

The world is finite. If we can%26#039;t see this, if enough of us can%26#039;t see this, we are lost.

Asker's Rating:

Well said!

I had a lot of great answers to this question.

Thank you to all who answered.

Other Answers (10)

• Yes It bothers me. It is also become so much a concern that there are requirements in Green building now that forbid choosing prime farmland as a site for development.(see LEED Sustainable Sites Credit one: Site Selection)
  Banks are becoming reluctant to give money to developments that are not green..because they will not sell when the are in competition with green developments, they feel nicer, are cheaper to live in. I am studying Green Architecture and Sustainable Design at CAL Berkeley and will take the LEED AP test in June
• When the tree hugger allow more clearing for farm land or better yet for housing instead of farm land what would you like to do? Put the govt in the food growing business... We can see how efficient the Govt in with All the other social programs that limit competition like public education, public transportation, keeping guns out of the hands of law breakers (and law biding citizens). An answer to this might be a tax credit for using land other than farm land for housing since it does usually require development to be basically level and rain runoff to be allowed for. Maybe if folks built on top of the hill instead of the lowlands naw if ya did that there wouldn%26#039;t be any more New Orleans city%26#039;s being built - hey wait a minute...
  
  Where do you get such unfounded lame math facts? If you lost 55% per year wouldnt you be down to a decimal within 5 years? Im not a math genus but some of the stuff I read is so lame it supprises me anyone would take it seriously. Seems some one forgot to tell the person that gave you this report a real math examine. Probably public education at work. Hey thats all Ive got - public education - must be that new math.
• It is the almighty buck that runs this world. And as far as the poor are concerned they can get off their lazy butts and make a better life for themselves instead of sitting with their hands outstretched saying gimmie, gimmie, gimmie.....who pays for all of the programs? I do and I don%26#039;t want to. They can work 3 or 4 jobs a year like I do.....I drive semi-truck 4 to 6 days per week, breed and raise pigs on the farm, grow and raise hay for sale and for my own animals, I also work for a custom hay outfit every other night in the summers, and I show clip horses at the horse shows and for video and photo shoots. Oh yes and I almost forgot I also do some custom hay work myself.
  As far as the farmers go.....they work hard all of their lives then when it comes to retirement if there is not someone who wants to continue the family business then they sell their land for their retirement.
  And the government is the worst thing that has happened to this country and its agriculture since sliced bread. The farmers around here were paid to grow corn for ethanol. Then to keep the prices high....the government paid many of the farmers to plow the stuff under before harvest. So to overinflate the price of corn government depletes supply.
  You want change....run for office! OR vote someone in who gives a crap about who it is that they were supposed to be serving. Push for TERM limits! Term limits would do a lot for eliminating the career goldbricker politicians and the corruption.
  Oregon voted in term limits....the first thing on the congress and senates agenda the following year was to vote the term limits out! I don%26#039;t know what is happening with that now....
  Get active in your community if you want change.
  Yes it bothers me that prime farmland is gobbles up for housing and industrial development. Build in the hills, save the lowlands for farming....the whole city of New Orleans could be a rice patty ranch...loll.....and irrigating would be easy just wait for the next storm.
  And as far as the %26quot;special interest%26quot; groups go they and theirs can go to some other country and mess it up....leave the USA alone....Farmers, ranches, and loggers knew a long time before the wacko environ%26quot;mental%26quot;ist did that conservation and planning is the only way the land can be saved for future generations and we also know just how tasty those Spotted Owls are so saving them was equally as important to us....
  Aren%26#039;t you supposed to be packing to move? Life.....