Utah's Future Farmers Speak Out to Save Utah Farmland

(sung to the tune 'Home on the Range')
Oh give me a home where the land isn't zoned,
Where the kids and the neighbors can play,
Where silence is heard,
and the sound of a bird -
and the skies are not smoggy all day.
FFA member Lacie Berry, Garland, Utah

Future Farmers of America (FFA) member Lacie Berry of Garland, Utah is one of several young farmers in Utah asking for help to protect a way of life and a natural resource during this year's Ag/Earth Day celebration. Berry's essay entitled 'Only So Much Land Available' was one of several submitted to Utah Commissioner of Agriculture and Food, Cary G. Peterson as a show of support for farmland resource protection efforts.

She added, "Yes, even in rural areas of Utah, we only have to travel a few short miles to see the housing boom. Homes, duplexes, condos, apartments, and industry are jumping up faster than dandelions on a warm Spring day."

Several of the student essays asked for help from state legislators. Shirlee Mecham of Morgan High School wrote, "These answers and solutions [to farmland resource protection] need to come from you, the leaders of our state and country. I am a member of the future generation, and I am scared. Scared that if you do not start to take action now, my generation will have to pick up the pieces and try to put them back together the best we can."

Tom Little from Morgan High School wrote, "The farms in rural communities are greatly diminishing. If this keeps up, our food supply will become scarce. We will have to rely on the food that is grown in greenhouses which is smaller with different taste quality. We need to find a way to curb the growth of subdivisions on rural farms."

Craig Jackson wrote to his State Representative, "I feel that measures should be taken to protect this land, because if we don't a lot of small farms are going to be run out of business."

Lisa Thurgood from Clearfield High, asking the mayor of her city, 'Where Did All The Land Go?' Thurgood writes, "Mayor, I feel we have even a bigger problem than just deciding whether or not to build a shopping center. The problem that I feel we need to look at more than anything. This the future generations who will be here when you and I are not." "Remember, only a few things will help improve our future, taking the land away isn't one of them."

Jarrod Nelson wrote, "I know that I speak for many people when I say that open spaces are good, and farming is a great way of using this land."

Ben McGuire from Dixie High School wrote, "The Utah Legislature is now to a time in Utah history where their decisions can affect the use of Utahs' prime farmland for the better or the best. Let's be glad we are well represented."

Fremont High's David Martini writes, "A farm is a place where the families can come closer together, teach children responsibility by learning and doing and giving people a variety of activities."

The essays were presented during Utah's Ag/Earth Day celebration where FFA members, community leaders, and members of the Utah Sierra Club met to draw attention to the need to protect farmland resources.

Posted April 24, 1998