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September 1, 2005: Some folks repeat the old
saying, “Good fences make good neighbors.” I say,
good neighbors are cultivated just like the crops we grow. No
matter where you farm or what you grow or raise, good neighbors
make all the hard work infinitely more enjoyable. You can’t
put a price tag on the feeling of being part of a community.
That’s what rural life is all about.
However as farming is changing, so is the fabric of rural life, and that can
put pressure on the relationships we have with our neighbors.
Today farms are either getting bigger or getting smaller.
Farming “in the middle” is increasingly tough.
This means that many of us are either tenants or landlords.
In some areas, competition to rent good farmland is fierce.
Over the last 30 years, as farms have grown in size, one operation
eats up another in an attempt to remain profitable. This growth
often occurs by renting land that someone else has chosen
not to farm.
How can we manage these new relationships to preserve the
integrity of our communities? Good neighbors are still good
neighbors and long-term relationships are as important today
as they were 30 years ago.
In our area alone, there are many different types of landlord-tenant
relationships. Some landowners--including older, retiring
farmers without children to take over--rent out all their
land. Some smaller growers, particularly vegetable growers,
have more land than they need so they rent a portion of their
farm out to another farmer. Other farmers rent ground to farm
even as they lease away small pieces of their own property.
These can be good situations for CSAs or other small-scale
start-up operations.
At times I’ve fallen into all of these categories.
Over the years The Rodale Institute has occasionally rented
land from other farmers in our neighborhood. Currently, we
rent land out to one of our neighbors, John Brubaker.
From my point of view I can tell you that the long term relationship
I have with the Brubakers is worth far more than the money
that changes hands. We often share equipment, labor and even
a lunch or two. We have formed a partnership to market our
products that benefits us both. By combining our commodities
we can reduce our trucking costs and better supply our customers
with the quantities and time schedules they need. We’ve
been working together for 30 years now and we both have benefited
greatly from the relationship.
Building long-term relationships, whether you’re a
landlord or a tenant, is even more important if you are farming
organically. Improving the health of the soil takes many years
of patience, hard work and observation. Getting fields certified
takes time and energy. No one wants to put that time and energy
into a piece of land only to lose it to some other use. As
farmers we need to be clear with our landlords about what
we do, how we do it, and why we’re in it for the long
haul, not just for short-term profits. Many land owners are
enthusiastic when they discover that organic farming can actually
increase the value of their property, that their soil is being
improved and that, as organic farmers, we are interested in
a long-term commitment to them and the land. That’s
being neighborly. Honesty and fairness are still highly valued
in rural communities.
Neighbors can be as close as the next house or as far away
as the absentee landlord in some other state. Either way we
have a responsibility to share with them the news of the farm.
Cultivate your neighbors and work hard to stay in touch with
them. You’ll benefit, they’ll benefit and ultimately—since
every stitch in the fabric of our community is important—we
all benefit.
How is the relationship you have with your neighbors changing,
and how can we continue to support each other? Drop me a line
and let me know.
From One Farm to Another--or
perhaps I should say, From One Neighbor to Another
Jeff
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