At a recent meeting of the Bayfield County Economic Development Corporation (BCEDC) board of directors, on which I am currently serving a three year appointment, there was discussion regarding how BCEDC might endorse or otherwise support the proposed Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) to be built by an Iowa company in the Township of Eileen near Fish Creek. It seemed to me, from the comments made, that a number of board members favor this project which has provoked considerable controversy in our community. When comment turned to ridicule of opposition as "hog wash" (wink, wink--titter, titter), I rose to ask the group what they thought would be the economic benefit of this development to Bayfield County? Was this development compatible with existing enterprise and patterns for rural settlement? Will BCEDC support risk of clean air, clean water, health and quality of life to accommodate non-resident industrial agribusiness in our county? Is BCEDC prepared to accept a share of responsibility for the negative impacts that a 26,350 pig production factory might impose on our citizens? An offended board member told me that my questions and comments were "inflammatory"!
I agreed to serve on the BCEDC board of directors to represent the interests and opportunities for agriculture in Bayfield County, but I don't share the "bigger is better" attitude that seems to permeate conventional "economic development" thinking. Although an economy of scale and efficiency is important, farms don't have to be "BIG" to be economically viable. In fact I believe family farms, resident owner-operated farms, driven by agrarian values, with gate sales of $100,000 to $500,000, offer the greatest benefit to a strong rural economy. Family farms put people on the land, children in local schools, shoppers on Main Street, residents on the local tax rolls, and healthy food on the table. Family farms can compete in regional food systems--some Bayfield County farm families have been succeeding at this for generations. With abundant affordable fertile land, clean water, a conducive climate for appropriate crops, and a growing regional market for "locally" produced food, the future can be bright for a new generation of farmers in Bayfield County.
When then Secretary of Agriculture, Earl Butz, preached "Get Big, or Get OUT!" in the 1970's, bankers and farmers bought in. Then in the 1980's the economy faltered, the farmland price bubble broke, interest rates soared, food prices fell, heavily leveraged farmers who had borrowed to expand couldn't pay their loans. 300,000 family farms were lost. More banks failed in 1985 than during any year of the 1930's. Main Street business of many a Midwestern town died; most never to recover. Industrial agriculture has nothing to offer Bayfield County except increased risks to be managed, and potential ruin when management fails. I won't be part of any "welcome party" for a CAFO pig factory in Bayfield County--Nope, not me!
I agreed to serve on the BCEDC board of directors to represent the interests and opportunities for agriculture in Bayfield County, but I don't share the "bigger is better" attitude that seems to permeate conventional "economic development" thinking. Although an economy of scale and efficiency is important, farms don't have to be "BIG" to be economically viable. In fact I believe family farms, resident owner-operated farms, driven by agrarian values, with gate sales of $100,000 to $500,000, offer the greatest benefit to a strong rural economy. Family farms put people on the land, children in local schools, shoppers on Main Street, residents on the local tax rolls, and healthy food on the table. Family farms can compete in regional food systems--some Bayfield County farm families have been succeeding at this for generations. With abundant affordable fertile land, clean water, a conducive climate for appropriate crops, and a growing regional market for "locally" produced food, the future can be bright for a new generation of farmers in Bayfield County.
When then Secretary of Agriculture, Earl Butz, preached "Get Big, or Get OUT!" in the 1970's, bankers and farmers bought in. Then in the 1980's the economy faltered, the farmland price bubble broke, interest rates soared, food prices fell, heavily leveraged farmers who had borrowed to expand couldn't pay their loans. 300,000 family farms were lost. More banks failed in 1985 than during any year of the 1930's. Main Street business of many a Midwestern town died; most never to recover. Industrial agriculture has nothing to offer Bayfield County except increased risks to be managed, and potential ruin when management fails. I won't be part of any "welcome party" for a CAFO pig factory in Bayfield County--Nope, not me!
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