When thinking about the importance of landscape preservation and its significance to our culture’s history, I am reminded of my family’s farm located in New Berlin, Wisconsin. Farms are a critical part of our American history, and even more so of our Wisconsin history. They are the foundation of this state, and, as Keller states, these “landscapes [have come] to be recognized in their own right as significant cultural resources” (Keller 189). We started as an agrarian society, so it is important for us to learn and understand the concepts associated with such a lifestyle. How would we explain farming to future generations if there were no farms left and they had nothing to compare them to? This realization is also starting to impact the public, which can been seen when Keller states, “There is a growing public awareness and even horror at the unprecedented growth in formerly rural areas and the loss of the tangible reminders of the nation’s agrarian past” (Keller 208). This is a scary thought, but also very real considering the rate at which farms are disappearing. According to the American Farmland Trust, seventy percent of farmland is headed towards commercial and residential development (Brown).
My family’s dairy farm has been in my family since 1896, when my great, great grandfather came from Mecklenburg, Germany and built a home for his family on the current land the farm occupies, which is depicted in the photos I have provided. However, over the past decade, the farm has been facing a serious threat: sprawl and commercial development. My mom and her brother, who both own the farm, have been in a constant battle to protect the place and land where they grew up. Highways have divided the farm, and some land is beginning to be picked off by commercial development. Where there used to be a large forest and swamp area where my mom would ride her horses, there is now a subdivision of houses and shopping centers. Developers are constantly inquiring about the land, and trying to acquire the prime real estate at a fraction of what it is worth, which is something I imagine most farmers are dealing with these days.
The surrounding farms in the area have all been consumed by big businesses such as strip malls, Walmart, and Kohl’s. However, despite these multi-million dollar complexes, many of the smaller strip malls remain vacant. Was it worth it for developers to tear down productive farms only to build a failure of a business complex? Many people do not think so, as can be seen when the Sierra Club states, “Some communities that once welcomed development with open arms now consider the cost of lost farm land not worth the benefits of a new strip mall” (Brown). This issue upsets me because it hits so close to home. I would hate to see the beautiful hand-built farmhouse my family has had for generations torn down to make way for a Walgreens. I love visiting the farm, exploring the old house, and petting the cows. Losing all of this would be bad enough for me, and it would probably be devastating for my mom and uncle.
Preserving landscapes such as this enables future generations to learn about the benefits and importance of an agrarian lifestyle and business. It does not make a whole lot of sense to me that we are destroying the areas that grow our food and provide us with things necessary for our survival. I realize that a lot of our produce comes from other countries, but I would rather it come from our own. Eventually, all of our farmable land will be covered with suburbs and cities. Will sprawl have been worth it at that point; the point where we start to have food shortages? Instead of consuming the land that is important to our survival and heritage, we should look at how we can better utilize the areas that we have already built, and improve planning in those locations.
Works Cited
Brown, Ann, Carrie Collins, Tim Frank, Kim Haddow, Ben Hitchings, Sam Parry, Ginger Vanderpool, and Lida Wormser. "Sprawl: The Dark Side of the American Dream.” Sierra Club. Sierra Club, 2011. Web. 04 Nov. 2011. http://www.sierraclub.org/sprawl/report98/report.asp.
Keller, Genevieve P., and J. T. Keller. "Preserving Important Landscapes." A Richer Heritage: Historic Preservation in the Twenty-First Century. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, 2003. 187-222. Print.
I had no idea that your family owned a farm! I have to agree, we won't be able to educate families about farms anymore. Since farming has moved from feeding the ones we loved to a corporation only focused on staple crops. The family farm has definitely suffered.
ReplyDeleteSprawl has become a major issue, especially with strip malls, parking lots and department stores. It is surprising to see how many of the business' fail and just leave vacant plots of concrete. Maybe if there was more of a punishment, say if your business fails within 3 years, you are required to tear down the business and bring it back to a natural state. I don't know if that will help.
I also wanted to know if the government paid your family for putting the highway through your land? Also who up keeps it and takes care of the animals? I hope your family can hold on to it for many more generations and not have it fall to the urban sprawl.
I'm not sure if we were paid for the roads, and if we were it probably was not anywhere near what the land is worth. My uncle currently runs the farm and takes care of everything on it. I hope it stays around, too, because I would hate to see anything happen to it!
ReplyDeleteGreat blog, interesting topic; I too agree that our past needs to preserved and farming is a huge part of our past. My father's side of the family came from farming families and my grandpa often tells me stories of the work that he had to do when he was younger. I can in a very minor way understand what it must feel like to lose land. My grandparents live out in Racine and I used to love riding out their and seeing all the scenery, but today there are more subdivisions and strip malls than farmland. Unfortunately we are losing our farms to development and some farm land is even being bought up by large farming corporations that are buying out the farmer and tearing down their housing to make more room for their large crop quotas. So even the science and art of family farming is being destroyed though the land is being used in the same way.
ReplyDeleteSpoken like a true Wisconsinite - I LOVE FARMS! I grew up in the 'country' and still enjoy the beautiful landscape that they present. In my hometown, a farm that bordered my neighborhood, was replaced by a strip mall when I was in high-school. I was disappointed to not hear the cows mooing early in the morning, or see them grazing as I drove to school. It was sad to see it go. I agree that preserving farms are an important learning tool for future generations to learn about agrarian lifestyles because our lives have gotten so far away from that compromising our health.
ReplyDeleteThis is a huge issue in terms of preservation. I think that outside of Wisconsin, most Americans think of Wisconsin as being full of farmland. Yet, here it is one of the things that we take for granted and we are losing it at a very high rate for development. This will continue to be an issue to define where the lines between the rural, urban, suburban and sprawl exist.
ReplyDeleteDo you know anything about the house? Date? Material? Builder? Design?