This sudden increase of roughly a thousand percent in fuel costs was not any concern to our car driving public or the politicians – after all the farmers are not a major power at the polls and are too independent to organize. Interest rates on home mortgages stayed the same, but rates on farms and farmers homes and equipment went up by the week and month. You may remember Willey Nelson’s Farm Aide programs, in the Eighties, which still exist, and that were designed to help keep some family farms from bankruptcy.

As far as the evils of development here in the Delaware beach area: Usually those who are most outspokenly opposed to development are usually those who have greatly gained from it financially. These objectors are enjoying the fruits of our economy as newcomers or they are at times members of the old guard whose properties have multiplied in value as a result of prosperity brought to us by the purchases, expenditures, and contributions made possible by those other newcomers and tourists, who’ve come to visit or join us. Many objectors have retired here with money from urban jobs or have jobs here in some tourist related or supported business or live in homes that are only possible because of the developments they scream against.

Some anti-development folks feel the farmers OWE them the land to use and view freely and without responsibility. I see that all the time. In fact there are some people who trespass on farmer’s land to hunt, exercise their dogs, dig up plants, pick produce, play, or anything else they want to do as though it’s public property.

Some don’t see anything wrong with trespassing, even after being told not to do so. There are many people who want others to NOT use the land they own or use it in a certain way for the public good – while t

If you want to know why so many farmers have sold out to developers, allowed the land to grow houses instead of crops and left the farm life that their families enjoyed for generations – read on. Do you know why more and more farms are growing houses, stores and filling stations instead of cows, corn and potatoes? Do you know where the farmers went? Well, my father and I are farmers that left the farm. Most of our neighbors have too. Most of us still live in the area; we just don’t farm any more.

Few people understand the farming they espouse as so charming and worthy. It was long hours, hard work and little or no pay. Most farmers had less money at the end of the year, after expenses, than those who clerked in stores. Some years the earnings were less than costs, too many years in fact where even the best farmers lost money and had to sell land to survive.

Although entire farms were lost in the great depression of the Thirties; in the Seventies, Eighties and Nineties, most farmers had to sell of lots and acreage for homes and development, even though they worked to exhaustion every hour they could and applied every possible correct business practice.

Even the most prosperous farms in Delaware, such as the Townsends with all their tens of thousands of acres, have not retained the younger generations of the Townsend family to work in the agribusiness. Farming is hard work. The hours can be even longer today than 50 years ago, with equipment maintenance, constant seminars on chemicals, land use, improved techniques and hours of record keeping, computer work, reading professional publications, etc. Not only do farmers still need to rise before the sun to tend the land and animals, but they must work into the evening hours on the business techniques and applications.

Profit margins are slimming by the year and not nearly worth the risk according to more and more farmers. There is seldom a farmer’s son or daughter who wants the farm life instead of the shorter hours, reduced stress, far lower risk and far higher pay of urban work and life.

More and more farmers are changing farms into recreational, entertainment and tourist attractions to pay the bills that crops won’t pay. Corn mazes bring in more money and far more profit than harvested corn, shelled corn or corn meal. Dairy farming as entertainment for urban tourists is far more profitable than dairy farming as agriculture.

Blueberry farms are not sustainable in most areas, with rising labor costs, unless they become U-Pick entertainment berry farms, with all manner of fruit pies, blueberry muffins and berry twig Christmas wreaths. You will see more and more farms become entertainment, destination, and recreation farms in years to come – or you will see houses grow on the land instead.

Even many cattle and horse farms sustain themselves by charging people hundreds or thousands of dollars to come shovel manure, castrate bulls, brand calves, or do the cowboy roundups that were once the jobs of people who got paid to do the work.

Dad stopped farming twenty years ago and says he should have stopped ten years before that. He was an award winning farmer and a superb businessman. He usually produced as much on each acre as ordinary farmers did on dozens or even a hundred acres. Dad learned to grow healthy corn with stalks just an inch or so apart when others had the corn one, two, or even three feet apart.

Some of our most productive farm land is now better suited for concerts, “Punkin Chunkin” exhibitions, lacrosse camp, baseball training, model airplane flying and other varied recreational uses for the land where I grew up farming, pulling weeds, driving cattle and riding in rodeos in the off season.

Even Dad’s productivity and his prudent management, did not earn the return farming that any other business had to earn to stay viable. Dad has owned and managed a few dozen other businesses and farming is the only one he had to abandon, although he loved it most. The risks of weather, market forces and government capriciousness have been and continue to be incredibly high.

A farmer producing more and more per acre with each decade is a trend that continues; keeping farm products at the cheapest levels in history. Part of the reason for our wonderful prosperity is that food takes such a small part of anyone’s income now. Fifty years ago, food took about 25% of an average family’s income. A hundred years ago, 50% of an average family’s income often went to food, if they were not farmers themselves. And five hundred years ago, many families could barely eat with the earnings they made. Before that most of what a family did was often based on getting enough food to eat. We have come a long way, with plentiful supplies of fruit, vegetables, protein and all manner of healthy food available for even the most poor usually. We should thank the American farmer for that!

Most of Dad’s land is sold and he has neighbors now; folks who have bought lots or acreage and built nice homes. He continues to buy more land today, but not for farming. The developments of Covey Creek, Cave Colony, Cool Spring Farms, Lazy Lake, Overbrook Shores, Eagle Crest and Cripple Creek are on parts of our farm or on property we bought from neighboring farmers and developed. From the age of about 21, I helped with the sales and marketing of those developments.

There are many other farmers who no longer farm, yet we American Farmers grow far more food than we need on the fewer acres. In fact American farmers grow so much food of all kinds that we export our crops to nearly every other country on earth and still drive prices down with oversupply.

American agribusiness needs less and less acreage to support the growing population of the world. This ever increasing supply of agrifood, far outstrips demand.

Farm prices, to the farmer, are tiny fractions of what they were in any past time. Most of the cost of groceries is due to packaging, advertising and distribution. In dollars adjusted for time; the price of food today, and the money to the farmer, is less than 10% of what it was a hundred years ago.

There is more than enough food to feed every person on earth and make them fat like we Americans are. There are substantial problems with transportation, distribution, and political systems but we could feed, clothe and shelter the world on FAR less acreage than we have in production today.

We even have the silly, actually insane, habit of paying farmers to not farm in our country. We take tax money from everyone, including all farmers, and pay thousands of farmers to not grow crops, animals and trees. I’m personally NOT farming about 500 trillion acres of farm land – I wish the federal government would pay me what they owe me… J

In the late 70s our government climaxed decades of federal laws, policies and financial changes aimed at the decimation and destruction of American farming. Whether the aims were intentional or not is debated. There were interest increases on farm loans from 5% to over 23% on loans that were guaranteed to be fixed rates, during the Seventies, and this devastated the farmer. The federal and state governments, during this same time, added highway taxes to fuels for the tractors, combines and irrigation pumps – to help keep the price of automobile gas lower. Diesel fuel to the farmer was 12 cents in early 1976 and was pushed to $1.35 by the end of the year with government taxes and policies.

This sudden increase of roughly a thousand percent in fuel costs was not any concern to our car driving public or the politicians – after all the farmers are not a major power at the polls and are too independent to organize. Interest rates on home mortgages stayed the same, but rates on farms and farmers homes and equipment went up by the week and month. You may remember Willey Nelson’s Farm Aide programs, in the Eighties, which still exist, and that were designed to help keep some family farms from bankruptcy.

As far as the evils of development here in the Delaware beach area: Usually those who are most outspokenly opposed to development are usually those who have greatly gained from it financially. These objectors are enjoying the fruits of our economy as newcomers or they are at times members of the old guard whose properties have multiplied in value as a result of prosperity brought to us by the purchases, expenditures, and contributions made possible by those other newcomers and tourists, who’ve come to visit or join us. Many objectors have retired here with money from urban jobs or have jobs here in some tourist related or supported business or live in homes that are only possible because of the developments they scream against.

Some anti-development folks feel the farmers OWE them the land to use and view freely and without responsibility. I see that all the time. In fact there are some people who trespass on farmer’s land to hunt, exercise their dogs, dig up plants, pick produce, play, or anything else they want to do as though it’s public property.

Some don’t see anything wrong with trespassing, even after being told not to do so. There are many people who want others to NOT use the land they own or use it in a certain way for the public good – while ta

Profit margins are slimming by the year and not nearly worth the risk according to more and more farmers. There is seldom a farmer’s son or daughter who wants the farm life instead of the shorter hours, reduced stress, far lower risk and far higher pay of urban work and life.

More and more farmers are changing farms into recreational, entertainment and tourist attractions to pay the bills that crops won’t pay. Corn mazes bring in more money and far more profit than harvested corn, shelled corn or corn meal. Dairy farming as entertainment for urban tourists is far more profitable than dairy farming as agriculture.

Blueberry farms are not sustainable in most areas, with rising labor costs, unless they become U-Pick entertainment berry farms, with all manner of fruit pies, blueberry muffins and berry twig Christmas wreaths. You will see more and more farms become entertainment, destination, and recreation farms in years to come – or you will see houses grow on the land instead.

Even many cattle and horse farms sustain themselves by charging people hundreds or thousands of dollars to come shovel manure, castrate bulls, brand calves, or do the cowboy roundups that were once the jobs of people who got paid to do the work.

Dad stopped farming twenty years ago and says he should have stopped ten years before that. He was an award winning farmer and a superb businessman. He usually produced as much on each acre as ordinary farmers did on dozens or even a hundred acres. Dad learned to grow healthy corn with stalks just an inch or so apart when others had the corn one, two, or even three feet apart.

Some of our most productive farm land is now better suited for concerts, “Punkin Chunkin” exhibitions, lacrosse camp, baseball training, model airplane flying and other varied recreational uses for the land where I grew up farming, pulling weeds, driving cattle and riding in rodeos in the off season.

Even Dad’s productivity and his prudent management, did not earn the return farming that any other business had to earn to stay viable. Dad has owned and managed a few dozen other businesses and farming is the only one he had to abandon, although he loved it most. The risks of weather, market forces and government capriciousness have been and continue to be incredibly high.

A farmer producing more and more per acre with each decade is a trend that continues; keeping farm products at the cheapest levels in history. Part of the reason for our wonderful prosperity is that food takes such a small part of anyone’s income now. Fifty years ago, food took about 25% of an average family’s income. A hundred years ago, 50% of an average family’s income often went to food, if they were not farmers themselves. And five hundred years ago, many families could barely eat with the earnings they made. Before that most of what a family did was often based on getting enough food to eat. We have come a long way, with plentiful supplies of fruit, vegetables, protein and all manner of healthy food available for even the most poor usually. We should thank the American farmer for that!

Most of Dad’s land is sold and he has neighbors now; folks who have bought lots or acreage and built nice homes. He continues to buy more land today, but not for farming. The developments of Covey Creek, Cave Colony, Cool Spring Farms, Lazy Lake, Overbrook Shores, Eagle Crest and Cripple Creek are on parts of our farm or on property we bought from neighboring farmers and developed. From the age of about 21, I helped with the sales and marketing of those developments.

There are many other farmers who no longer farm, yet we American Farmers grow far more food than we need on the fewer acres. In fact American farmers grow so much food of all kinds that we export our crops to nearly every other country on earth and still drive prices down with oversupply.

American agribusiness needs less and less acreage to support the growing population of the world. This ever increasing supply of agrifood, far outstrips demand.

Farm prices, to the farmer, are tiny fractions of what they were in any past time. Most of the cost of groceries is due to packaging, advertising and distribution. In dollars adjusted for time; the price of food today, and the money to the farmer, is less than 10% of what it was a hundred years ago.

There is more than enough food to feed every person on earth and make them fat like we Americans are. There are substantial problems with transportation, distribution, and political systems but we could feed, clothe and shelter the world on FAR less acreage than we have in production today.

We even have the silly, actually insane, habit of paying farmers to not farm in our country. We take tax money from everyone, including all farmers, and pay thousands of farmers to not grow crops, animals and trees. I’m personally NOT farming about 500 trillion acres of farm land – I wish the federal government would pay me what they owe me… J

In the late 70s our government climaxed decades of federal laws, policies and financial changes aimed at the decimation and destruction of American farming. Whether the aims were intentional or not is debated. There were interest increases on farm loans from 5% to over 23% on loans that were guaranteed to be fixed rates, during the Seventies, and this devastated the farmer. The federal and state governments, during this same time, added highway taxes to fuels for the tractors, combines and irrigation pumps – to help keep the price of automobile gas lower. Diesel fuel to the farmer was 12 cents in early 1976 and was pushed to $1.35 by the end of the year with government taxes and policies.

This sudden increase of roughly a thousand percent in fuel costs was not any concern to our car driving public or the politicians – after all the farmers are not a major power at the polls and are too independent to organize. Interest rates on home mortgages stayed the same, but rates on farms and farmers homes and equipment went up by the week and month. You may remember Willey Nelson’s Farm Aide programs, in the Eighties, which still exist, and that were designed to help keep some family farms from bankruptcy.

As far as the evils of development here in the Delaware beach area: Usually those who are most outspokenly opposed to development are usually those who have greatly gained from it financially. These objectors are enjoying the fruits of our economy as newcomers or they are at times members of the old guard whose properties have multiplied in value as a result of prosperity brought to us by the purchases, expenditures, and contributions made possible by those other newcomers and tourists, who’ve come to visit or join us. Many objectors have retired here with money from urban jobs or have jobs here in some tourist related or supported business or live in homes that are only possible because of the developments they scream against.

Some anti-development folks feel the farmers OWE them the land to use and view freely and without responsibility. I see that all the time. In fact there are some people who trespass on farmer’s land to hunt, exercise their dogs, dig up plants, pick produce, play, or anything else they want to do as though it’s public property.

Some don’t see anything wrong with trespassing, even after being told not to do so. There are many people who want others to NOT use the land they own or use it in a certain way for the public good – while t

Even Dad’s productivity and his prudent management, did not earn the return farming that any other business had to earn to stay viable. Dad has owned and managed a few dozen other businesses and farming is the only one he had to abandon, although he loved it most. The risks of weather, market forces and government capriciousness have been and continue to be incredibly high.

A farmer producing more and more per acre with each decade is a trend that continues; keeping farm products at the cheapest levels in history. Part of the reason for our wonderful prosperity is that food takes such a small part of anyone’s income now. Fifty years ago, food took about 25% of an average family’s income. A hundred years ago, 50% of an average family’s income often went to food, if they were not farmers themselves. And five hundred years ago, many families could barely eat with the earnings they made. Before that most of what a family did was often based on getting enough food to eat. We have come a long way, with plentiful supplies of fruit, vegetables, protein and all manner of healthy food available for even the most poor usually. We should thank the American farmer for that!

Most of Dad’s land is sold and he has neighbors now; folks who have bought lots or acreage and built nice homes. He continues to buy more land today, but not for farming. The developments of Covey Creek, Cave Colony, Cool Spring Farms, Lazy Lake, Overbrook Shores, Eagle Crest and Cripple Creek are on parts of our farm or on property we bought from neighboring farmers and developed. From the age of about 21, I helped with the sales and marketing of those developments.

There are many other farmers who no longer farm, yet we American Farmers grow far more food than we need on the fewer acres. In fact American farmers grow so much food of all kinds that we export our crops to nearly every other country on earth and still drive prices down with oversupply.

American agribusiness needs less and less acreage to support the growing population of the world. This ever increasing supply of agrifood, far outstrips demand.

Farm prices, to the farmer, are tiny fractions of what they were in any past time. Most of the cost of groceries is due to packaging, advertising and distribution. In dollars adjusted for time; the price of food today, and the money to the farmer, is less than 10% of what it was a hundred years ago.

There is more than enough food to feed every person on earth and make them fat like we Americans are. There are substantial problems with transportation, distribution, and political systems but we could feed, clothe and shelter the world on FAR less acreage than we have in production today.

We even have the silly, actually insane, habit of paying farmers to not farm in our country. We take tax money from everyone, including all farmers, and pay thousands of farmers to not grow crops, animals and trees. I’m personally NOT farming about 500 trillion acres of farm land – I wish the federal government would pay me what they owe me… J

In the late 70s our government climaxed decades of federal laws, policies and financial changes aimed at the decimation and destruction of American farming. Whether the aims were intentional or not is debated. There were interest increases on farm loans from 5% to over 23% on loans that were guaranteed to be fixed rates, during the Seventies, and this devastated the farmer. The federal and state governments, during this same time, added highway taxes to fuels for the tractors, combines and irrigation pumps – to help keep the price of automobile gas lower. Diesel fuel to the farmer was 12 cents in early 1976 and was pushed to $1.35 by the end of the year with government taxes and policies.

This sudden increase of roughly a thousand percent in fuel costs was not any concern to our car driving public or the politicians – after all the farmers are not a major power at the polls and are too independent to organize. Interest rates on home mortgages stayed the same, but rates on farms and farmers homes and equipment went up by the week and month. You may remember Willey Nelson’s Farm Aide programs, in the Eighties, which still exist, and that were designed to help keep some family farms from bankruptcy.

As far as the evils of development here in the Delaware beach area: Usually those who are most outspokenly opposed to development are usually those who have greatly gained from it financially. These objectors are enjoying the fruits of our economy as newcomers or they are at times members of the old guard whose properties have multiplied in value as a result of prosperity brought to us by the purchases, expenditures, and contributions made possible by those other newcomers and tourists, who’ve come to visit or join us. Many objectors have retired here with money from urban jobs or have jobs here in some tourist related or supported business or live in homes that are only possible because of the developments they scream against.

Some anti-development folks feel the farmers OWE them the land to use and view freely and without responsibility. I see that all the time. In fact there are some people who trespass on farmer’s land to hunt, exercise their dogs, dig up plants, pick produce, play, or anything else they want to do as though it’s public property.

Some don’t see anything wrong with trespassing, even after being told not to do so. There are many people who want others to NOT use the land they own or use it in a certain way for the public good – while t

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