Farmer: Developers Don't Care

As more and more farm fields are converted to subdivisions, strip malls and parking lots, critics wonder how we are going to feed the world''s ever-burgeoning population, and what our communities are going to look like. The last family farm in the Chicago area''s Tinley Park has been put on the market, reports the Chicago Sun-Times, in a trend that is being seen across the nation (as well as much of the world). After a death in the family, the 111-acre spread will likely be bought for development. "Developers don't give a crap about the ground," Mike Rauch, who works the land, told the Sun-Times. Nationwide, farmland values doubled from 1996 to 2006, including a 40% rise in just the last two years. Suburban and urban sprawl is one of the biggest threats to wildlife, since it eats up essential habitat, and fragments and degrades habitat along its margins. It requires tremendous inputs of natural resources and energy to build and maintain. As global population becomes increasingly urban (it''s expected to hit 80% urban by 2030), displacing farms nearest to cities means an increase in the food miles for so many. It also means people will continue to lose touch with the nature around them, exacerbating the nature deficit disorder phenomenon.

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