Mourning the Loss of My Favorite Commute Spot

[GLC1968]

I LOVE the old farms in this area, and it's a shame that as the decades go by, the owners die and the family can't afford to keep the valuable land.

This is a bigger problem than most people realize. There are lots of people out there who would love to own these small farms and operate them as farms, but most can't afford them. The land has gotten ridiculously expensive. The current farming generation in this country is aging very rapidly and no one is coming up behind them to take their place. Not because they don't want to...but because they can't afford to. It's a real shame and it's going to be a real problem in the very near future.

That, and the more farms you tear down for development, the more traffic, the more pollution and the less rural roads for us cyclists!

[Trek420]

The current farming generation in this country is aging very rapidly and no one is coming up behind them to take their place. Not because they don't want to...but because they can't afford to. It's a real shame and it's going to be a real problem in the very near future.

Spotted today at the local farmers market a blast from my past, a 4H club. I found out that here in busy urban Bay Area there are at least 13 clubs in the East Bay alone. Nationwide, who knows how many.

So while the cost of land and start up costs are one thing, but "the kids are alright"

[smilingcat]

Mr. Silver pointed out something most people miss. High density housing relieves the need for more open space, reduce the urban sprawl. Another thing that would help is if the gas price was to go through the roof.

A lot more incentive to live close to their work instead of commuting 50 or more miles from their work. DOT, NHTSA ... thinks widening the highway is the answer to the rush hour commute. Quite the contrary. If people had more incentive to live closer to their work, there wont be the ugly urban sprawl. And there wont be this gawd awful rush hour commute of 50+ miles.

I for one would like to have a small organic farm. However, as GLC says, the financial picture is all against it (not to mention my age). The average age of family farm owner is 55 is what I heard. And many of them are continuing to work into their late 70's and sometimes even into their 80's.

Some states do have a "matchmaking" program to arrange a partnership between the old/aging farmer and the green horn. The partnership takes on many different forms. The goal of these programs are to eventually transfer the farm to the younger generation witout crushing financial burden. This idea BTW is very popular in Europe. I don't know who started it...

As for the beautiful farm, only time will tell. New owner may be into hobby farm and will maintain the esthetics.