I
stumbled upon a gem of a website that is a wonderful resource if you own, work and manage a farm, the American Farmland Trust. In a nutshell, AFT commits to saving American farms and ranches by creating a network of wise use of agricultural and environmental resources, advocating an active growing local, buying local outreach, promoting a federal farm policy, dealing with state-by-state issues and programs, and overall, by enabling stewardship of our land. In essence, AFT is keeping farmers on their land and protecting the environment.
Every minute of every day,
America loses an acre of land to development. That's staggering, if you consider the equation:
no farms, no food.
We live on a farm, a working farm. On it our farmer grows a variety of crops and we breed and raise llamas and tend an orchard filled with heirloom fruits. We are surrounded by farms and live in a community of 54 families, mostly farmers. But sadly, we are surrounded by farms for sale and the result is development. With development comes city folk, city ways, increased taxes, and largely, people who want to remake the country into a city of their own design. It is not surprising that country folk do not like the infusion of city people.
I heartily recommend the American Farmland Trust website, because it is one of the best I have seen of its kind, it is user friendly, and contains a wealth of associated sites with drop-down menus, so there is something for everyone. Check it out, please, and become a
friend of farmland.
Thank you so much for profiling us, RJ. Keep up the great work on the blog (and on the farm!)
ReplyDeleteBest,
Allen @ American Farmland Trust