Being a farmer’s daughter, in combination with living and working on our family farm for most of my life, one could assert that I’m a little bit biased on the topic of agriculture, and I suppose they would be correct in their assertion. I’ve always been quite passionate about farming, and my background and experience only amplify this passion. But, for the sake of this post, allow me to say that my bias has nothing to do with emphasizing how significant it is to protect farmland, because this is a matter that should have relevance amongst us all.
If you disagree with this, ask yourself if you enjoy eating food, or three square meals a day, for that matter. One cannot exist without the other.
If you had told me 20 years ago that I myself would witness this precious farmland being purchased by developers for housing units and subdivisions in my own local area, I probably wouldn’t have believed you. I’m tremendously disheartened to acknowledge that this proposition has become reality, and it certainly isn’t exclusive to me and my own local area – it’s happening globally, and it’s a huge fucking problem.
Advancements have been made to allow for vertical and hydroponic methods of farming, meaning practices that don’t require tremendous land use, but this ideology simply isn’t feasible, nor applicable, to some crops. Consider livestock, as an example. Some varieties, like cattle and horses, require plenty of land to roam and graze, and this cannot be accomplished in these new non-traditional farming methods.
We need to protect farmland, both currently and for the future. Its value is beyond comprehension to most people who are not involved in the agricultural industry, but it allowed me to emphasize that food production cannot exist in its fullest capacity without it.
We must do better.
Photo by Federico Respini on Unsplash
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