2004-03-30
farmland preservation | This is about saving individually or family owned farms | Corporate agribusiness does quite nicely on it's own | Around the USA and the world farming conducted on a livable scale has been assailed most of the 20th century, but with pronounced vigor since WWII | Legislation and grants programs have been created ostensibly to assist smaller farms, but they've not been the beneficiaries of such supports |
How family farmland gets saved, and how economies of a scale friendly to keeping such endeavors viable, can vary | The 'mechanics' of such are less critical than sustaining the values to keep them going |
In the USA, whose leadership is picked mainly from the corporate communities, this means a real tough cultural battle must be waged simultaneous with the efforts made to keep small, community based farming extant and healthy |
Also to be challenged is the ethic of urban convenience to goods, together with a citizenry largely ignorant of and/or indifferent to, the realities of Nature | Simply put, so many people don't understand that things don't come in a box, nor does chicken grow so it ends up being exactly by the pound (or kilo, depending) |
This is yet another part of the puzzle this site indends on grappling with | Stay in touch | ¶ 09:10
