Protect farmland

To the Editor:

Should the Hennigars, Elderkins, etc. be allowed to develop their land for subdivisions rather than orchards?

Ms. Raven of Greenwich argues no. Like Ms. Raven, I enjoy the beauty of the agricultural strip separating Wolfville from New Minas. Many of us are willing to pay a lot to live here because we like to drive or walk past farmland on the way to Wal-Mart or Superstore or wherever else we happen to be going.

Sometimes we stop at Elderkins or Hennigars for a treat and love to brag about how great our community is because of these places.

What these farmers recognize is that because of how attractive a place to live this area is, they can make more money developing their land for houses than they can continuing to farm it. To deny them the right to develop their land is essentially equivalent to taking money away from them.

At the same time, if we are selling our own home, we make sure to point out how nice it is to be close to farmland rather than stuck in the middle of the suburban sprawl near

Halifax. If we value the open space that our farmers provide near our homes then we should be willing to pay them to continue providing that open space rather than taking away their right to develop it.

Don't we already give farmers a lot of financial breaks? Yes, we do, but most of these are linked to producing food, food which, as a whole, the world has more than enough of. Unfortunately, we’re not always getting it to the people who need it.

However, we would probably do more to fight world hunger by growing less food here and opening our borders to imports from the developing world than we do by preventing local farmers from developing their land for housing.

Rather than punishing those farmers who weren't the first to develop their land, we need to find a way to pay them for the services they do provide, which for those near our homes includes providing a beautiful landscape. I'm sure most farmers would gladly sell their rights to develop, if offered enough.

Such arrangements have worked elsewhere. Unlike zoning their rights away, such a deal would not punish farmers for farming and, at the same time, protect the rural atmosphere we love.

John Janmaat

Wolfville, N.S.