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Agriculture is Tennessee's foundation. Yet, we're sacrificing its land. [1]

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Date: 2022-08-18

Brooks Lamb

Guest Columnist

Brooks Lamb works on issues related to farmland protection, farm access, and heirs’ property with American Farmland Trust.

I grew up on a small farm in northern Marshall County, about forty miles south of Nashville. My family has been farming this land since 1892. Mama and Daddy bought the place after my great uncle died in the late 1990s, so we know the joys of multigenerational farming and the struggle of paying down a debt.

Our farm is pretty. It’s productive, too. It’s our home.

Marshall County is filled with small farms like ours. Or at least it was.

Several family farms still exist, and much of the landscape is still rolling and open, dotted with cattle and cedar trees, fence rows and crop fields. A few rural communities remain tight-knit and vibrant. But in figurative and literal ways, the landscape is changing rapidly. Many farms throughout the county have been paved over in the name of progress. They’ve been replaced by sprawling subdivisions and large-lot housing development.

The farmland loss situation in Marshall County and Middle Tennessee is acute, but it’s not unique. The same forces that swallow up fields and forests in and around my hometown are active throughout the state, region, and nation.

American Farmland Trust just released a new report on farmland conversion. Rather than looking backward to see what farmland we’ve already lost, this publication projects forward to show how farmland loss could impact communities by 2040.

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The numbers are staggering

If we continue down our current path, the United States will convert an additional 18.4 million acres of farmland, an area nearly the size of South Carolina. Tennessee will convert over a million acres in the next two decades. It’s worth noting that the authors of the report call these estimates conservative. They also model a scenario where sprawl is even more aggressive, a situation that’s possible given recent development trends.

Tennessee lists “agriculture” on the state seal, yet it ranks third in the nation in farmland loss. We’re sacrificing the soils that sustain us.

In describing the rampant farmland loss occurring in Tennessee and across the country, I’m not being sentimental or nostalgic. I’m not pining for a time gone by. Instead, I’m writing with concern for our future.

Although it isn’t often valued as such, farmland is the foundation of many rural places. When stewarded well, it provides a host of environmental benefits. It can filter and store water. It provides essential wildlife habitat. It can help stem climate change. Farms and farmers also drive local and regional food systems and support small businesses.

Farmland is an economic win for communities, too.

While many people believe that property tax revenue flowing from new development is a boon for local coffers, they forget that the county—and taxpayers—must also offer services to those new developments, things like schools, roads, sewers, sidewalks, police and fire protection, and more.

Farmland, on the other hand, requires less public investment. Time and again, studies have shown that agricultural land offers strong financial returns for communities.

These benefits are real, and they’re threatened. So is our collective future.

We don’t have to continue sacrificing swaths of agricultural acreage.

We can support the farms and farmers that are essential to the success of our communities.

In Tennessee and beyond, that means planning for a farming future on local and state levels.

It means embracing strategies to help diverse new generation farmers access land and giving retiring farmers a financially viable alternative to selling land for development. It means supporting farmers by buying food locally.

It means protecting farmland through agricultural conservation easements in partnership with land trusts.

It means growing in our rural communities, but growing thoughtfully. With care, we can add homes and stores, population and infrastructure without forfeiting farm after farm.

I come at this issue from personal and professional perspectives. I know the promise and pain of farming. I know a tough row because I’ve hoed it. I’ve spent my fair share of time in hay fields, tobacco patches, and cattle barns, and I hope to spend much more.

I also have a forthcoming book that touches on these topics and others, and I’m employed by American Farmland Trust, the organization mentioned earlier. This work is my calling, and I feel lucky to answer it. No matter the angle from which I approach, I do it with passion. Many others do, too.

I cite all the statistics, strategies, and stories above to share this final message: Farmland is important. Farmers are important. We should believe that—and then we must act on this belief.

Brooks Lamb works on issues related to farmland protection, farm access, and heirs’ property with American Farmland Trust. His second book is forthcoming with Yale University Press in late spring 2023.

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[1] Url: https://www.tennessean.com/story/opinion/2022/08/18/agriculture-tennessees-foundation-yet-were-sacrificing-its-land/10351302002/

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