A solution to Urban growth

I've been living in Boise for 20 years. In that time span, we have moved from a very navigable kind of cowboy town to a big city. The question is is that a good thing or a bad thing because with growth, has come the loss of farmland. Endless developments in the treasure Valley have created a controversy. Local farmers have attempted to be part of a solution. Here’s Tristen Winegar, Washington County Farm Bureau President: “I just got tired of everybody saying there’s nothing you can do about it, there’s nothing you can do about it, and I think that there is something that we can do about it and so I decided I wanted to try and explore those ideas. So, I presented it to my board, and I just said is this something we wanted to pursue, and it was an outstanding, unanimous yes, we want to figure something out,”

That idea eventually made its way to Idaho Farm Bureau Convention where the delegates voted to make it part of the 2022 Policy Book. Idaho Farm Bureau President Bryan Searle:

“The question is, is how do we go about doing it. And that’s where the beauty of Farm Bureau lies is it’s a grass root organization so the ideas and the solutions are going to come from our members,” Said Winegar. “So, to be able to sit around the table and have conversations in a way that is able to provide a means for farmers and ranchers to continue to do what they do and to make a living, to be profitable and yet provide an opportunity, I guess if some so desire to plant houses, then that’s what happens. But there’s even ways there that we can grow in areas that may be less productive land and looking at areas that don’t affect the most productive land that we have.”