Saving farm land is necessary

To the editor:

As a farmer and chairman of the USDA Farm Service Agency, I am concerned about the article in the March 22 edition of the Frontiersman, “In Farm We Trust,” by Andrew Wellner.

The Alaska Farmland Trust is creating an opportunity for the community to partner with local farmers who choose to participate in preserving farmland for future generations. Asking the community to contribute to a program that gives farms a voice in deciding their future is not unfair and probably the least the Mat-Su Borough should do.

I have attended borough meetings where the community came out in force to insist that any new roads go through the center of a neighboring farm rather than next to their neighborhood. When the farm decided to extract gravel from the route that the road was taking through the farm, the same community came out in force and pressured the assembly to not allow the extraction of the gravel. This farm has been in existence for more than 70 years, the neighborhood about 25 years, yet the neighborhood is deciding the fate of the farm. The borough’s contribution to this program certainly does not offset this loss of the farmer’s solidarity.

The borough’s contribution is only a fraction of the funds needed. In fact, any money the borough contributes is multiplied by the contribution from the farm, the private sector and the federal government. To date the farm community (ie., Farm Bureau, Palmer Soil and Water and the Alaska Rural Rehabilitation Corp.) has contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to this program. The farmers donate a significant amount of value in the land for this purpose, it costs the farmer a significant amount of money to participate.

The USA is losing 1.5 million acres of farmland a year to development. This has been happening for many years. This trend cannot continue without jeopardizing the safety of future generations. Alaska is especially vulnerable to the loss of agriculture lands since only a small fraction of the land in Alaska is suitable for agriculture.

The federal government recognizes the danger of this trend, that is why it has spearheaded and funded this program. However, it needs the support of local communities for it to be truly successful.

The bottom line, this is not subsidy in any way shape nor form for the farmers. This program promotes security and raises the value of the community that supports it.

Arthur Keyes

Glacier Valley Farm