For GR and KYRose

[Downthestretch55]

Originally Posted by GenuineRisk

Oh, DTS, I don't dispute that one bit, but I don't think the loss of family farms is due to the estate tax-- I think it's due to megafarms buying up land and trashing the environment in order to put out pesticide-laced, hormone and anti-biotic infused animal products at a cheaper price than the small farmer can. And it's awful. And frankly, the land being worth more to developers eager to build McMansions for noveau riche than it is as farmland, so it's not worth it to try to keep it-- struggle with a mortgage and feed bill costs for the rest of one's life or sell it off to developers and retire? And that sucks too. If a farmer is selling off his farm before he dies, then it's not the estate tax doing it to him.

In the end, I think it's up to us as consumers, maybe being willing to do with a little less so that we can buy from small farms and humane farmers and try to keep them in business. Politicians can accept money from the big-farm lobbyists (how do you spell that?) and can push through subsidies that screw over the little guy, but in the end, if we aren't willing to buy from those companies, they can't maintain their chokehold. But it requires being willing to sacrifice a little convenience and a little from our pocketbooks. But hey, I struggle to make ends meet and yet I still seem to have a TV, cellphone, computer, etc. If I can afford that, I can afford to spend an extra $5-10 a week buying organic and local.

And a push towards farm tourism, too, I think. I read that a lot of family farms are keeping afloat by charging for hayrides, pick your own apples, etc. Silly, maybe, but if it keeps money in their pockets and traditional farming methods alive, then bring on the tourists, I say!

I'm a city girl now, but I grew up in farm country. My uncle grew up on a farm; my great-uncle owned dairy cows and delivered milk to my grandmother's door when I was little (I remember her putting the empty bottles back outside to be picked up and reused). And it kills me to see the land torn up and replaced by subdivisions. The cow farm across from my high school is now all developed. As is the farm that lay across the street from my old neighborhood. So depressing...

I hear you GR.
Funny that I grew up right on the Jersey side of NYC.
Came to the Catskills where there are two shovels of rocks for every one of dirt.
Real people that have invested their whole lives to try to keep it afloat.
As they drown, we all lose something that has been the root of many dreams.
We are all diminished by the loss.