[Nightingale]

We are losing so much of our country to big corporations. Farmers around here have a very hard time keeping up with the rising cost of property taxes, fuel for farm machinery, chemicals and fertilizers for the ground and the cost of the seed itself.
I keep hearing how farmers are getting rich because the ethanol craze has raised the selling price of soybeans and corn for farmers...it's just not true. The rising cost of everything else pretty much cancels out the big profits people imagine farmers rake in.

We have lost a lot of our farm ground to new housing. Our little corner of the world has become quite popular as we are between two major cities and can easily commute to either for work or play. Many young farming families, and older farmers that are ready to retire, end up selling farm ground at high prices for building purposes...who can blame them?
It's a shame, but that's the way it is. The farms that people are losing to greedy bankers that have over extended their loans, very often the ground is sold to big corporate farming companies. They own thousands of acres and it's a huge business and not farming as our part of the country has always known it...it's a bit un-nerving to say the least.