New idol has taken hold

Most everyone knows Joni Mitchell’s classic line about paving paradise and putting up a parking lot, but the reality here lately certainly reflects such a situation.

There’s no question agricultural land is under attack. I wish I could say I knew the reasons why, but a couple of things stand out in my imagination.

First, we have issues of global competition and land succession. It’s damn hard these days to make a go of it as a farmer: the hours are long, the rewards are few and consumers take for granted the efforts of a dwindling population that soldiers on despite the current international and local challenges. Price is a great motivator and what’s cheap, even if it’s not local, tends to capture consumers’ attention.

In addition, more and more young people who grew up on the farm are heading out. What was once a matter of course – you learned the tricks of the trade and assumed the family business when you were of age – is no longer assured.

There are more opportunities and fewer risks in the great big world for those who grew up on the family farm and with things the way they are now, a lot of potential young farmers have opted out. Who needs the headache, right?

Another factor to consider is the twinning of Highway 101. The more asphalt that’s laid, the more urban our population becomes. This reality is like a juggernaut poised to steamroll (pardon the pun) the landscape in short order.

Farmers see this as a way to get out from under as developers scramble to capitalize on a hot market. Who could blame them? We all want to secure our future, minimize our debt and look to give something back to our kids after a lifetime of labour. This is why I suspect a lot of farmers have decided to bite the bullet, take the heat and surrender their land.

As noble as their profession and as crucial as it is to the local economy, the world is flat-out cold and demanding. If you can’t pay the bills, someone will come looking for something of equal value. Sort of the eye for an eye thing, without the physical violence.

Small wonder there are dozens of For Sale signs on farm properties in the county; not to encourage development per se, but simply to escape an unpleasant reality. If a developer happens to buy, well, what odds, right?

This is a dramatic oversimplification, of course, and I can go only on what I hear, but the issues noted above are ones that have surfaced many times.

Indeed, I’ve thought for a while now that the ‘feel’ of the region has undergone a radical shift. What was once decidedly rural now has the aroma of diesel and tar as big machines rumble over the land and paradise is, in fact, being paved.

The agrarian culture that characterizes this region nationally and internationally is being eroded by wanton development and opportunistic individuals, most of whom don’t live here. It’s about the money, honey, not sustainability or lifestyle.

Once upon a time, the opposite held true. The region was an oasis then, a special place where folks could share not only a rural lifestyle, but the idyll of a communion with nature. Sad to say - at least to my perception, anyway – one idyll has been exchanged for another; an idol of concrete and steel with tarmac fused hot and steaming over land that once could have generated enough food to feed a multitude.