In the fall, Douglas County’s agricultural heritage is about as visible as any time of the year. Combines are in the fields, grain trucks are on the road, and farmers are harried and this year probably happy. But how much of a role should agriculture play in Douglas County’s future? That question is getting some attention inside Lawrence City Hall. On two occasions now, city commissioners have debated how much protection the city’s comprehensive plan should provide for land that is deemed “prime farm ground.” Commissioners are planning on discussing the issue again at their Oct. 14 meeting. The issue specifically is whether future industrial parks should be allowed to locate on prime farm ground (think the Kansas River valley and other bottomland.)A proposed industrial park near the Lawrence Municipal Airport has brought out lots of folks who have said why industrial development shouldn’t occur on prime farm ground. Their reasons include that the most highly rated farm ground – including ground near the Kansas River – is a rare and precious commodity. With higher fuel prices, they’re convinced that it will be more important for communities to grow some of their own food locally. They’ve also argued that the prime farm ground serves as an excellent source for flood control, because the land really sucks up the water. But what we haven’t heard a lot of in this debate is why this issue of protecting prime farm ground may be overblown. Local attorney Mark Andersen – who represents developers and others these days but comes from a long line of family farmers in Northeast Kansas – took a stab at it recently. He sent a letter to city commissioners earlier this month outlining some reasons to keep this issue in perspective.Here’s some of his key points:¢ U.S. farmers produce so much food that a good deal of it is exported to other countries. “With our own national population trends leveling off, and average crop yields and agricultural productivity continuing to rise, there is no shortage of local food production now or in the foreseeable future,” Andersen wrote. ¢ The U.S. produces so much food that it pays farmers not to farm some of their land. The federal government’s Conservation Reserve Program pays landowners $1.9 billion per year to leave 34.7 million acres of farm ground unplanted and undeveloped. ¢ Kansas certainly doesn’t have a shortage of available farm ground. Kansas has 3.1 million acres of farm ground enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program. That’s the third highest total of acreage in the country. ¢ The evidence, Andersen says, doesn’t suggest Douglas County is going to run out of prime farm ground anytime soon. According to federal soil maps, about 11 percent of all ground in the county is rated as prime farm ground. That equates to about 33,500 acres. So, what do you think? Is this prime farm land question a growing problem, or just growing out of proportion?