theresponseblog:

hey @kontextmaschine I remember you posting about how back in the 80s-to-90s, the Delaware Valley agricultural center was reamed out by developers as the American farm industry finally admitted that you can’t make it with less than 2000 acres

and it looks like now that’s happening in the Hudson too; the hook of the article being “har har these city slickers just ain’t got the nose to handle cow shit” but the point, to me, being that despite all you hear of how farmers get tax breaks and assistance, there’s still so little profit in farming that they haven’t got the money to outcompete bankers for property and in fact usually make more money by becoming tourist attractions–or just straight-up selling the land to developers.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/09/nyregion/hudson-valley-farms.html

How ‘Fairy Tale’ Farms Are Ruining Hudson Valley Agriculture

I know there’s been tension around Oregon’s “urban growth boundary” and wanting to find additional revenue streams for farms without becoming a full-time wedding venue/winery tour tourist zone