Several times a year, I hear someone on the development of agricultural land to complain in our region. They complain considered a crime for which so much of our agricultural land to residential, business, shopping has been transformed, etc. They seem to be farmers and developers consider criminals.
If you know why so many farmers, developers have sold the product, leave the land to grow houses instead of corn and left the farm life that their families enjoyed for generations - read on.Do you know why more companies are homes, shops and service stations are increasing, rather than cows, corn and potatoes? You know where the farmers went? Well, my father and I leave farmers that farm. Most of our neighbors have them too. Many of us still live in the area, not currently operating.
Few people understand the farming they espouse as so charming and worthy. It 'was long hours, hard work and no pay. Most farmers have less money at the end of the year followingSpending than those who clerked in stores. Some years the profits have been below cost, for too many years, in which even the best farmers lost money and had to sell land to survive.
Although all the holdings of the Great Depression of the Thirties were lost in the seventies, eighties and nineties, most of the farmers and surface lots for homes and development had to sell, even if worked to exhaustion every hour could and applied every possible business in the rightPractice.
Even the most prosperous farms in Delaware, like the Townsends, with all their tens of thousands of acres, not the younger generations of the Townsend family in the work of the agricultural sector. Farming is hard work. Hours can be longer than that today has 50 years of working with equipment maintenance, ongoing seminars on chemicals, land use, improvement techniques and hours of recordings, computers, reading magazines, etc. Do not only the farmers muston earth from the sun and the animals tend to increase, but they need to work in the evening on business and technical applications.
Slimming profit margins are not within the year and by far worth the risk for farmers even more. There is seldom a farmer's son or daughter who wants to make life on the farm, instead of shorter working hours, less stress, less risk and much higher paying jobs and urban life.
More and more farmers are changing farms into recreational,Entertainment and attractions to pay the bills that crops will not pay. Corn mazes bring in more money and profits than harvested corn, shelled corn or corn flour. The dairy industry as entertainment for urban tourists is far more profitable dairy farming.
Blueberry plants are not sustainable in many sectors, with wage costs, if U-pick berry farms become entertainment, with all types of cakes, muffins and berry twig ChristmasCrowns. You will see more and more companies are entertainment and recreation destination areas in the coming years - to grow or you will see houses on the land instead.
Even many cattle and horse farms are sustainable by charging people hundreds or thousands of dollars to shovel manure, castrate bulls, calves branded, or the cowboy roundups that were once the work of people who are paid to do the job come.
Dad stopped farming 20 years and says he should have stopped10 years ago. It 'was an award-winning architect and an excellent businessman. He usually produces more per acre as farmers have dozens or even hundreds of hectares. Dad has learned to healthy corn stalks with just an inch or so apart, develop when the grain other one, two or even three feet away.
Some of our most productive agricultural land is now more suitable for concerts, "Punkin Chunkin" exhibitions, lacrosse camp, baseball training, model airplane flying and othervariety of leisure for the country where I grew up farming, pulling weeds, driving cattle and riding in rodeos in the off season.
The father and his productivity is not prudent management, earning a return on agriculture, to earn that every other activity, was to remain viable. Dad owns and manages a couple of dozens of other businesses and agriculture is the only one who had to leave, even though he loved most. The risks of time, market forces and the government was arbitrary and will continueto be incredibly high.
A farmer producing more and more per hectare, with each decade is a trend that continues, keeping agricultural products at the lowest levels in history. Part of the reason for our wonderful prosperity is that food takes to itself as a small part of the income of anyone now. Fifty years ago, the food took about 25% of an average household income. A hundred years ago, 50% of an average household income for food, often when they are not farmers themselves. And 500 yearsFirst, many families could barely with the result that they did eat. Before that most of what a family did was often enough to eat forever. We have come a long way, with rich fruit, vegetables, proteins, and all sorts of healthy food for the poor in general. We have to thank the American farmer for that!
Most of my father's land is sold, and neighbors now, people who bought land and built a beautiful bag or case. He continues to buy moreCountry today, but not for agriculture. The developments of Covey Creek, Cave Colony, Cold Spring Farms, Lazy Lake, Overbrook Shores, Eagle Crest and Cripple Creek are part of our company or assets that we bought from neighboring farmers and developed. By the age of about 21, I helped with the distribution and marketing of these developments.
There are many other farmers who no longer grow on the farm, but American farmers more food than we need in fewer acres. Grow, in fact, American farmersa lot of food of all kinds, which we export our plants in almost every other nation in the world and still drive prices down with oversupply.
American agribusiness needs less space for the growing population of the media world. This ever-growing range of food companies, by far exceeds demand.
Agricultural prices, farmers, are tiny fractions of what at any time before. Most of the cost of food is due to packaging, advertising and sales. In U.S. dollars, adjusted for the time;the price of food today, and the money for the farmer is less than 10% of what was a hundred years.
There are more than enough food to feed every human on earth and are as fat as we Americans. There are significant problems with transportation, distribution, and political systems, but we were able to feed clothe and protect the world much less area than we have in production today.
We also stupid, really crazy habit of not paying the farmers in our backyardCountry. Take tax money from everyone, including all farmers, and pay farmers not to grow thousands of plants, animals and trees. Personally I'm not farming about 500,000 billion acres of agricultural land - I wish the federal government would pay me what I need ... J
Aligned in the late 70s our government for decades by federal laws, policies and financial changes to the decimation and destruction of American agriculture has peaked. If the objectives have been intentional or not is debatable. Sinceinterest rates were raised on farm loans from 5% to 23% on loans that should be guaranteed a fixed rate, in the seventies, and this devastated the farmer. The federal and provincial governments, while at the same time this has been added highway taxes to fuels for tractors, combines and irrigation pumps - to help lower the price of gas the car. Fuel for the farmer was 12 cents in early 1976 and has been pushed to $ 1.35 by the end of the year with the government and fiscal policy.
Thissudden increase of about a thousand percent in fuel costs was not any interest in our public guidance or politicians - after all the peasants are not a great power in the elections and to organize independently. Interest rates for mortgages remained the same, but rates on farms and farm houses and equipment rose from week to week and month. Perhaps you remember Willy Nelson's Farm Aide programs, in the eighties, which still exist and are designed to help familiesCompanies from bankruptcy.
As for the evils of development here in the Delaware beach: usually those who most strongly to the development are mostly opposed to those who have greatly gained from it financially. These objectors to enjoy the fruits of our economy as newcomers or who are sometimes members of the old guard, whose property value due to the growing prosperity from us, the cost of purchases and contributions made possible otherNewcomers and tourists who come to visit or have with us. Many objectors have here with money from urban jobs or jobs have retired here in some tourist related or supported business or live in houses that just because they shout at potential developments.
Some anti-development people feel that they owe the farmers land use and view freely and without liability. I see that all the time. In fact, there are some people, attacks on land to the farmers of hunting,Exercise their dogs to dig, harvest the plants produce, play, or what you do as if the public property.
Some see nothing wrong with trespassing, even after telling them not to. There are many people who want others not to use the land they own or use it in some way for the public good - and only the responsibility to determine, on the rule, not the subject to familiarize yourself with the energy, labor or money maintain or regain what they love to come. Someapplication only the free and irresponsible enjoyment of the fruits of others' work and risks.
A person uses his personal property, or do not use it according to the wishes of others is a form of trespassing, a form of communist theory, everything belongs to everyone to think. And, yes, most of those who are strongest objections Marxists, in fact or at heart. Most admit that in private, if there is no fear of exposure. Marxism does not work everywhere. Russia is now a freeMarket, while we're on the unworkable principles of socialism, where they decimated.
Farmers bought land and equipment, mostly with borrowed money to feed the world - feeding the world that the cry of the socialist democracy then and now. But this contract with our government of the Soviet Union, China and parts of Europe has been violated as a political weapon, after farmers had planted, and purchased new equipment, long-term loans. There was no place to sellProfitable crops and nothing to do with the land. The federal government seems to purposely push our independent farmers into the abyss of failure. Then outspoken non-farmers - the so-called environmentalists, encouraged all kinds of additional measures and strategies for the reduction of the agricultural sector in this country, and still does. These are the same socialist democrats that stop to feed the world and you want to free the farmers from the development of country homes and businesses. Thissame socialist democrats that hate all that farmers may want to keep the farms, the farmers to enable them to rows of beautiful plants and large expanses of cultivated land can be seen.
Returning to the orchestrated destruction of American farmers have had to borrow money to stay in business, some of which were for the first time and the first emergency loan from dollar lending to state-sponsored tax 3-6% for loans of agricultural credit and production support. Some loans even began at 1-2% forPut in soy, corn and wheat and the purchase of expensive harvesting and storage. The new prices to the levels sky high for these crops on the futures market because he was forced to draw the world for decades to feed the world and wanted more than we produce will be provided.
Then the feds stepped in and raised interest rates on fixed income securities lending business a step at a time (as they did, residential mortgages for homes) very quickly, in less than twoYears, prices are less than 7% to 28% - some even reached 32%. The farmers had to borrow up to 33 years with rates as low as 2%, and sometimes went in the first sentence of 3% per month. The loans were made at fixed rates. Many of the loans had annual payments related to the collection and sale of income. The projected income have to do. Many farmers just left the plants in the field as the value collected was less than the cost of the harvest. Just as the rules where fixed loanchanged and the credit more than a week, sometimes in violation of banking arrangements. Agricultural prices fell due to a violation of our treaties with other countries to feed them.
Remember the late '60s and '70s and then the fatal failure of the farmers in this country. Remember to try, Willie Nelson and his Farm Aid concerts, and to help farmers in recent days and weeks. Farmers across the country took other tasks, the edges of their farms sold the mostsold the less productive farms to developers or developers have in some cases. In too many cases are just quietly gone out of business and farms went broke.
At the same time, there were agricultural jobs were, the courts have become mechanized as every farmer was struggling to stay in business, was working with a low-labor crops replaced and we were stuck with the cultivation of these plants. People who owned land for generations no longer have farmers looking to rent the landprice is worth it. Some went to share cropping and found that half of the proceeds were not paid anything and the property tax. It was most of the potato, tomato, carrots, beets, corn, peas, beans, radishes, squash, pumpkin, blueberry, strawberry, pear, peach, apple, cherries, asparagus, beef, goat, milk, farms Pork and alfalfa we knew. It was about 70% of farmers.
Large farmers became hyper-productive to specialize in one crop or two low labor costs, more and more mechanized,removed from each hectare planted trees available together, as close to harvest, more fertilizers and insecticides used to search for and obtained in other companies to gain greater productivity from every acre and to increase outside income. Migrant workers to help on the farms disappeared. Some stayed for a while 'in the canneries and the canneries were closed then. Those that remained open until the last did not pay the bills, even though the building was inherited debts.
Some farmers have beenInsurance agents, banks, liquor store owners, Amway salesman, mechanic, tractor salesman, stock brokers, politicians, teachers, etc. to support agriculture. Many have signed contracts with Perdue Chicken criminal side - there was nothing to do and keep the farm. They had to make changes if you like it or not. Farm boys went to town to work. Small shops closed and in some cases small towns, because fewer people lived on farms few that remained.
SomeSites remained alive, as this area. Muskrat trapping on thousands of acres between Rehoboth and Fenwick Island that Phil and Ruddy had trapped for years is no longer profitable. Companies Rt A is no longer possible as the huge new equipment gradually could not simply be shifted to the increasingly crowded roads.
More city people, many of whom grew up in rural areas and the city had to move for jobs and income needed some 'space to get away from it all, and manychose this area. He does it again. Some wanted to stay here, she still is. I sold real estate in areas where development is not happening. I closed my city, some of them in West Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, etc. The millions of acres of farmland and pastures is not going to see maintained and the weeds and shrubs grow in first and then saw the volunteers juniper and cedar, some of which One of Rt.
I have seen the value of land for agricultural area ranging from the auction of $ 7,000Then per hectare in large companies across the embargo grain for China and Russia with less than $ 1,400 a few years. Some farmers, many farmers from selling lots or entire farms to stay afloat. There are 686 acres of rich river bed, bottom land, fertile soil, which was sold for $ 300 per acre to be sold late '70s for $ 700 an acre to see shortly after the civil war - the loss in real dollars , as they say, about 90% of the value. The reason that the agriculture of the countries below the riverbed soil in WestVirginia was no longer profitable. And no farmer would buy the land. The guy I sold it to a city as a refuge. He sold it again, because there is no way to leave the city and come to his retirement and earn a living somewhere nearby. Another man bought and built for those who wanted to hunt small area along the river for the holidays, and fish.
You see, no one could make a living here in farming. Remembering all the farms that dot the county uses? Remember, the vegetablesFarms and orchards and hay farms? You may know the owners. Most of them had to sell the developer or the country. There are few farms left here for economic reasons. Hopkins still the dairy because of dollars paid their prices up economic development for farms and let them know that keeping the dairy operation, where tourists can take to drive from one dairy.
The Townsend are selling hundreds of thousands of hectares of having a few thousand at a time when no one inThe family is ready, the risks and dangers, take a farmer more. They sold the chicken plant because of similar risks and threats. Chicken farms, the last hope of the farmers, not day by day. If you are close enough to where people want to live, but they are also developed. Otherwise, they are abandoned. It will not take much to get into poultry farms and farms as abandoned property.
Now a lot of people want to stop development of the country. Want to have somea quiet peaceful place to live without tourists. There are places like this and there is none. There is none. Nobody is going to go there. There are no annoying commercial establishments. There are no facilities at all. There are no newcomers, in fact, as a man for me. We had a man who has come here and not with others. We fed the pigs. Want some 'bacon is tasty. And they smile a toothless smile. They had no money for dentistryeither.
Eventually we found over the years since agriculture was in danger of becoming a multi-position income base. We have tourism, entertainment such as food, drink, listen to music and socialize with others for dating reasons - and retirement. You who come here want to be here. The farmers do not want to fight the urban viewpoints and not for the economy, for the most part.
If you want to fight the development, then there are ways to avoid this. There are some great dealsGhana, Slovakia and Guiana right now. Great outdoors. Cheap properties abound. Often there are many trees and no one wanted to cut it. It is not likely a Wal-Mart or an outlet center. There are large rural population with rural lifestyles still there and many want to come to U.S. dollars and sell cheap. If you own a house worth up to $ 5,000 or so was in the early 60s to have a couple of hundred thousand hours, or your family, now is a good time tosell out, move out and recapture the life and lifestyle of our youth. But, that takes risk, management, hard work, long hours, investment, income to pay for the investments, and all those nasty things. Slovakia is ready. And they sometimes speak better American and are more well educated than most of us. Doctors are cheap; many make only 0 a month. So health care is cheap. Meat is cheap – you just have to hunt or buy from a hunter. Vegetable products are cheap too, some are even farmed, many are just growing wild and ready for the harvesting. And they are rife with nice healthy bugs and mold and fungus – not messed up with chemicals. Wanna go?
There are several dozen Slovaks living here for another few weeks and all but one I’ve spoken to are planning to come back as soon as they can get here. They are making more money than they’ve ever seen before – spraying vegetables and opening boxes at Food Lion here on Rt. 24. The bounty of that dirty capitalist super market, Food Lion, in that Edgehill Shopping Center commercial development that Stan fought the anti-developers to put there, is intoxicating to them. They’ll never be the same. They ride bikes from Milton where they room together to the Food Lion to work. They are happy for the opportunity we have here and hope to be able to return in most cases. Some hope to go back to Slovakia and do what they’ve learned here. So hurry, some of them may become developers in Slovakia. They all have commented to me that they can save lots of money while here because food takes so little of what they earn, compared to what it takes back home! And all that in an area where “all the farms are gone and developers have taken over.” J
Take care,
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