Land conservation is becoming more critical as prime farmland is paved over for housing, highways or business uses.
History provides some clues to better conservation habits. Many early settlers migrated from northern Europe, where they farmed using scarce resources and land for several centuries, eventually putting great pressure on the land. America offered seemingly unlimited resources, a perception that quickly led to irresponsible and inefficient uses of land.
Today, U.S. land resources are still more plentiful than in Europe, but scarce long-term projections indicate a rapid decline in acres of fertile farmland per person. Today, there are about 2 acres per person of usable land for food production. If the population increases at its current rate and land continues to be paved over, there could be as little as
three-fifths of an acre per person by 2050. In only two generations, there might not be enough land to sustain U.S. food demands, much less export commodities, unless yields are tripled on remaining acres.
Although conservation efforts have improved with help from some federal programs, a great deal of prime farmland is being converted to housing, highways or other uses that don't result in food production. This is becoming a very serious issue in the future that must be addressed for the future.
The United States could benefit from studying modern Europe, where scarce land and resources are handled differently. Europeans have established green belts around their cities. They respect the belts and don't build towns out any farther than this natural limit. Zoning and payments for development rights could perhaps be a solution to keep land in
farming. But this type of land conservation requires political support, as well as concern and cooperation among all citizens.
Dave Varner is an Extension Educator with the University of Nebraska Cooperative Extension office in Dodge County. Dave may be contacted at 727-2775, 1206 West 23rd Street in Fremont, or at dvarner1@unl.edu
