Laserfiche WebLink
1:3 ~. ,, .~. UNIVERSITYOFMINNESOTA <br /> <br />December 7, 1979 <br /> <br />AGRICULTURAl. EXTENSIONSER. VICE <br /> <br />Anoka County Extension Olhce <br />Aclivily Cenle¢ / ~ ~ <br />550BunkerLakeBotdevard /~' II ~/' <br />Anoka,Minneso,a55303 .~..~..~ ' .~ <br /> <br />Robert and Lillian Nugent <br />6165 Green Valley Road <br />Anoka, MN 55303 <br /> <br />Dear Mr. and Mrs. Nugent, <br /> <br />I enjoyed visiting your attractive home and small farm on November 30,. <br />1979. Your farm is of course small only in terms of the size of a <br />contemporary con~nercial farm. It is large.compared to farms of 25 <br />years.ago and produces about as much food as about 30 to 50 percent <br />of the farms counted by U.S. Census of Agriculture. <br /> <br /> Whether your farm is efficient in terms of total resources invested <br /> (such as land, labor, management, and capital) is a question which <br /> does not have automatic answers. It depends so much on methods of <br /> spreading investments and estimating the value of famil~ Tabor. At <br /> any rate, society Was able to eat more pork-as a'resultlof your-' <br /> efforts:-~ <br />~That question "where will food be grown?!' ~s often overllooked by <br />local governments as they wrestle with the problems ~f governing. <br /> When engineers and attorneys view agriculture in local:planning, it <br /> usually results in a series of restrictions based.on-the assumption <br /> that potential problems can occur. They seldom are capable of <br /> dealing with agriculture and its quick reaction to changing techno- <br /> logies and responses to economic pressures. They prefer to create <br /> a solid, stable environmQ, nt which I like to call-a concrete jungle <br /> alt neatly connected by concrete storm sewers and sewer, water, black- <br /> top, and curbing. <br /> <br />Walking over your little farmstead reminded me of walking the same <br />ground probably 20 years ago with Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Cox and then <br />having coffee in their kitchen. The Cox's had lived there a long <br />time. They were getting along in years. Farm profits were non- <br />existant. There were many in Ramsey Township who. felt that every <br />acre soon would have a house on it. And the Cox's wondered about <br />building a private campgrounds. They were concerned about soil <br />erosion from farm fields and had built some water retaining devices <br />that could easily have been used for troutponds and Mrs. Cox described <br />the 'yellow violets" which grew ~in that low spot about 300 yards <br /> <br />UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. AND MINNESOTA COUNTIES COOPERATING <br /> <br /> <br />