To the editor:
I was lucky enough to take two trips this year, one to New Hampshire and the other to the San Diego and Los Angeles area. In both areas, I traveled many, many miles. It seemed we might have more farmland here in Douglas County than all of New Hampshire and for sure more than the desert of far Southern California.
Even though we have lots of farmland, we would be crazy to ever use our prime farmland for housing or industry. The state of Kansas should have a law to not allow the use of prime farmland for anything but farming. We will continue to feed the world and hopefully not cars.
Fred Sack,
Lawrence
Comments
labmonkey 8 years, 3 months ago
I actually agree Fred. If I had my way, I would bulldoze the whole Legends area and the Speedway down and turn it back into farmland.
BigPrune 8 years, 3 months ago
Imagine the carbon footprint that guy left with all his travels.
As for farmland, when is someone going to tear that eyesore down?
American Eagle Outfitters has 700 employees and pays $15.00 an hour. I'd be willing to give up a little farmland to get that company in Lawrence. - oh, we tried that and ran them off because of farmland?
just_another_bozo_on_this_bus 8 years, 3 months ago
"American Eagle Outfitters has 700 employees and pays $15.00 an hour."
Source?
SettingTheRecordStraight 8 years, 3 months ago
Fred, please. Are you seriously suggesting that the government somehow limit the use of private property that fits your arbitrary definition of "prime farmland" to agricultural uses only?
SettingTheRecordStraight 8 years, 3 months ago
Big Prune,
And if American Eagle paid $26.50 an hour, an employee there who has a spouse and two kids would still qualify for taxpayer-funded health care under legislation currently under consideration in the Kansas legislature. A total shame.
Chris Ogle 8 years, 3 months ago
blue73harley (Anonymous) says…
Here in Lawrence, we take prime farmland and make swamps.
But where else would the crawdads stay..... not in my ditch, by god.
HermioneElliott 8 years, 3 months ago
I just called American Eagle Outfitters and the person who answered the phone said emphatically that they do not have 700 people working there and they are not paying $15.00 an hour.
elfth 8 years, 3 months ago
This is easy. If you want to insure a specific use for land, buy it. Form a group of like minded individuals, get your money and financing together, find a tenet farmer or farm it yourself. That's what the current owners have done, and you could do it to. I'm in total agreement that we should protect farmland, thats why I bought some marginal crop land and planted it back to native grasses with my money and a little help from the government with grass planting. Again, you could do it too. Problem solved.
just_another_bozo_on_this_bus 8 years, 3 months ago
"This is easy. If you want to insure a specific use for land, buy it."
Well, no, it's not easy. This "value" of farmland in close proximity to urban areas is skewed by the same voodoo economics that has the world's economy headed down the crapper.
"It's not our job to feed the world."
But if we pave over all our prime farmland (and the much of land in the Kaw Valley is as prime as it gets-- nothing arbitrary about it) whose responsibility will it be to feed us?
elfth 8 years, 3 months ago
I stand corrected. Doable might have been more correct. But doing the right thing isn't always easy. That doesn't mean you don't try do it.
SettingTheRecordStraight 8 years, 3 months ago
But much of that "prime farmland" is also prime retail land and prime subdivision land! A free and moral market will best determine the value and use of that land.
If you want someone else's private property, buy it. But don't go asking the government to usurp one person's right to ownership just to feed your need for control.
kmat 8 years, 3 months ago
Correction for blue
"blue73harley (Anonymous) says…
Here in Lawrence, we take prime farmland and make swamps."
See, the correct answer was that it was a swamp. It then got drained and turned into farmland, Then was finally returned to swamp land.
RedwoodCoast 8 years, 3 months ago
I wonder how farmland zoning would affect the debate about the trophy coal plants in SW Kansas.
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