Unless you count volcanic eruptions out at sea (and we don’t), every year there are fewer and fewer acres available for growing food, building houses, or setting aside for habitat.
The decision of what should be built where or how land should be used is a complicated, complex, and controversial topic. In this episode of the Ag Policy Connection podcast, host Kelvin Heppner lays out several of the competing interest for land, ones that sometimes have a ripple effect in other whole countries let alone our own backyards.
Even within land use designations, there are sub competitions, too, like when those growing pasture or hay shift to growing corn for ethanol, for example, because of profitability prospects.
In agriculture, most will agree that preserving farmland is a priority, but many farmers’ retirement plans include selling land to the highest bidder — and that might be a land developer. People need places to live, but we also need to raise food to feed people.
Like I said, it’s complicated.
For this week’s poll, we’re asking you to pick the top three land use priorities you would choose if you were in charge of planning on a wider scale than just your own farm land.
