Farming

How does this affect me?

Within U.S. urban areas, there is a rising trend towards purchasing fresh, high-quality ‘”known” origin foods produced close to home.  In the Piedmont we may see many of our small farms being managed by highly-trained, ‘”hi-tech” farmers using as little as 10 to 20 acres for the production of fresh foods that they can sell locally.  These farms will have the ability to be flexible, year to year, in meeting the demands for a changing market. U.S. citizens will become more dependent on these sources of food. If we continue to lose productive farmland at the present rate, and as the population increases, food prices will rise. Global competition for basic foods such as cereals will reinforce that trend.

Ultimately, loss of farmland impacts local production.  We cannot depend, in the long run, on importing food.  Bringing food in from "unknown" sources either across the country or from overseas has led to incidents involving bacterial or chemical contamination.

As a result of that, people will have a greater desire to know the sources of their food and will want much of it grown locally. 

Finally, as biofuels become increasingly accepted as an alternative energy source, lands now growing food may be growing "fuel, so again impacting the capacity to keep up with food demand. The supermarket (food) may be competing with the gas station (fuel).

We need to protect and support our local farmers.