OT- PBS movie 8pm tonight

Not sure if PBS broadcasts nationally, or what the deal is, but this is about the town in which I live, an interesting documentary, in regards to farming of the past and current times, farm land being developed etc. All familiar faces to me, there is a bit of controversy in regards to one particular farm, 1 of 13 on that road at one time, now there is just one and its in its waning days, former pasture is now being excavated and site prepared for homes. I did assist somewhere with this when it was in production, I'm listed in the credits. I did have a hard time watching a little of it, as many others may have too, things change, and its something hard to accept for some, maybe ok for others, but with all the farmers and ag people in here, some of the history should be of interest.

Link to movie trailer below, Brunswick - Nate Simms
Brunswick

That was tough to watch. Looks too familiar.

Billy the shrinking farm numbers has been happening for over 150 years now. Just about as soon as the prairies where homesteaded the farms started getting bigger.

Also the profitability of farming has made the areas with the best dirt have a tremendous advantage. If you are in a marginal area your going to have a tough time making ends meet. Also if you do not have an Agricultural infrastructure where you farm you are fighting a losing battle. How many areas only have one place to buy farm inputs??? Maybe 50-100 mile trip to sell farm commodities?? Then local zoning regulations that are anti modern farming. That all adds up to make farming a dead horse in many metro areas.

Then you are within driving distance of a major metro area. Your ground is worth 10-20 times for development as it is for farming. So how would anyone keep farming then. Farm the ground and make maybe a $100-200 per acre profit or sell it for $100K. You can go else where and buy ten acres for every one you sold.

Then you have those that want to live in the country in their new house but do not want anyone else to have a chance at one. They want the farmers to keep the country looking like a post card but they do not want to have any cost involved in keeping it that way.

I am glad we are far enough away from any metro area for development to ever be an issue. It makes too many enemies out of people.

I checked here on our PBS cannel the show is not being shown tonight.

Will check to see if it's on here. This afternoon one of the PBS stations had programs about the Nazi's megaweapons of WW II. It was hard to quit watching but I had things to do and places to go.

You are right, in many ways with what you said, its inevitable. The way of life, the way people are, all changes with it. I have and still do admire the farmer in this country, I am glad I was able to be a part of it, small and larger scale, last farm here on that road is our long time friend, a former dairyman, just doing hay now. We still have 98 or so acres here, decent ground, actually some is very good, its a hard pill to swallow to think of what could become of it, but its a real hard develop, terrain, wetlands, and its mostly on hills, so that is a consideration, they go for the easy ground, another 40 acres of prime ground is also being developed right now. I have a plan to make things work, but its not going to be easy that is for sure. This land is something to appreciate, for the resources it provides, I'd be lost without it.

Not a whole lot like it was around my place 40 years ago when I rented farm ground mostly from real estate people or developers. Now it's 40 miles west of me.

Remember: It's not Rural Development, it"s DERURALFICATION! :evil:

I dident see it on tonight here either. I know how you feel, I'm hoping to rent the farm I've worked on for the last 24 years. Once the horses are gone, I wanna get more beef cows to put on the place. I'm thinking about a plan for the place for the near future. Do you remember Sanford stud, or hurracana farm on rt 30 in Amsterdam? That place turned into a shopping mall now. Pretty sad.

Billy here's a pic I found of the place. Not great but gives you an idea of its size.

JD, don't think distance from a metro area will exempt you from the threat of development. I live in Miller County, MO, not totally lost in the sticks, but certainly not within commuting distance of either St. Louis or KCMO. Yet I can show you lots of places that used to be farmed that have been turned into housing developments-including my neighbors to the south.

The (expletive deleted) that bought it convinced all my other neighbors that he was interested in buying a farm on a quiet country road so he could enjoy country living. As soon as the deed was transferred, he began dragging in manufactured homes and building driveways.

Every so often, I get a notice from the homeowners association reminding me that fireworks are forbidden and dogs must be leashed at "Liberty Ranch." Well, I ain't in the homeowners association. I let them know by going out and sighting in my deer rifles. My brother, who lived here before me, had the sheriff called on him several times for raising livestock. Sheriff finally told them if they called again, he would arrest THEM for harassment.

Now there is talk of wanting to pave the county road and charging folks according to how much frontage they have. Well, the development has very little actual frontage whereas I have about a 1/4 mile. In other words, they want me to buy them a paved road.

What is the name of the program?
I couldn't find anything called Brunswick.

Thanks
Steve A W

Thats it actually, must have been a regional airing of it.

Not sure I do recall it, but its incredible looking back how things do change, and you really kind of hope ag was a more equitable use of some areas.

That was a big place, must have been a lot of activity at one time.

What town? What state? Near what city? No details in your post.

Here's the film website:

http://www.brunswickfilm.com/brunswickfilm/The_Film.html

Brunswick is a film about landscape change, told through the personal story of a farmer’s lifelong connection to his now-threatened land. The film weaves together the plight of Sanford Bonesteel, an aging farmer in his 90s, with the dynamics of small-town politics as a residential development is planned on Sanford’s former land.

The film takes place in Brunswick, New York, a small country town facing the challenge of balancing economic growth with the preservation of its rural character. It is a story both specific to Brunswick and yet recognizable to rural communities all over the United States.
Brunswick The Film

I am very familiar with the Albany-Troy Schenectady (ATS) area. Used to live there, daughter went to college nearby, still had job assignments there in the last 15 years.

A couple points.

This is and has been a very low growth, even declining metro area compared to the rest of the nation. Had Brunswick Town(ship) been near
Dallas or Atlanta or Chicago it would have been gobbled up years ago.

The area of hills above Troy was marginal farm land at best, Lots of scrub timber growing up on former small farms. It was not like the fertile crop land of the Cortland valley or big northern NY dairy farms.

I am sorry for the 90 year old man, and that his way of life has changed, but that has happened to a lot of folks, like all the people that worked at GE plants in Schenectady, now closed and torn down. Or the many stores in downtown Troy, long ago closed and now vacant.

This is a dynamic society, change is part of it.
I do not like all of it , but it it is going to happen, whether I like it or not.

Single largest factor that lowered rural population and boosted small town populations was WWII.
The boys that came home had been away from the farm for 1-5 years . "You can't go home again". Mom & Dad had either sold out or had bought machinery and did not need as much manual labour.

That is the fault of your township. The same thing happened here, the township issued building permits for 100 homes a mile off the pavement. The road hasn't been paved, but turns into a mud pit every time it rains.

You know the area, though some of the ground is pretty good, there are other areas where it may not be as good, but crops still seem to do fine. In our case, the land, if cleared back to fields would have excellent top soil, I think the marginal aspect of much of the land is from consistent ag crops, tillage and so on. I've plowed sections on our place for plots, its good soil across the board.

What happened in this area is the easy areas were developed first, the areas near me can be very costly to develop. TSC spent a fortune for a piece of land yeas ago, no one would even consider developing.

Change is inevitable, my only opinion is that some consideration needs to be given to population, and ag land, proportionally. It should not be lop sided or high density.

There is no zoning in Miller County nor building permits. Luckily, if it"s your piece of dirt, you can do as you please (within limits).