On Tue, 08 Jul 2008 19:20:46 -0400, jeff miller
wrote:

wrote:

On Jul 7, 4:33 pm, jeff miller wrote:

i'm afraid there are simply "too many rats
in the cage". farm land and forests have been disappearing at alarming
rates for a long time now.


Agree with the sentiment, just curious if you actually have any data
for the "farm land and forests" disappearing. At least in the United
States I'd be surprised if there was a significant loss of farm land.
I vaguely remember increased North American forests being listed as
a reason for increased global warming.

Just curious if you have any data for your statement.
- Ken

it's a commonly-known and undeniable statistic in nc (my place of
experience and knowledge)...and one i have witnessed in my years in
eastern nc... don't know how it is on the west coast (or are you in the
dakotas?). look at these which i quickly harvested from google...

http://www.edf.org/documents/3565_NCForestry.pdf

http://www.landfortomorrow.org/page193.html ("...The state DENR
estimates that development gobbles up 100,000 acres of working farms,
forests and gamelands every year. In last decade more than one million
acres of natural and rural areas have been developed. Sadly, North
Carolina now leads the country in farm loss.")

http://www.ncwildlifefederation.org/...telandsres.htm
(...WHEREAS, NC lost more than one million acres of forestland from
1990-2002, and continues to lose 100,000 acres of forests annually,
2,000 acres lost each week; ...WHEREAS, Agricultural land statewide
declined by nearly 55.7 thousand acres annually over the most recent
reporting period (1992-1997). Moreover prime cropland declined by an
even greater percentage, losing 33.7 thousand acres annually during the
same period. Farmland loss was greatest in urban or rapidly developing
counties where both Mecklenburg and Wake Counties averaged 21 percent
declines over the past five years, and Forsyth County averaged 10
percent declines. According to the American Farmland Trust, North
Carolina ranks fourth nationally in the loss of farmland; ...")

And the problem with that is, as far as the loss of ag land...? Ag land
is "developed" insofar as man having "repurposed" it to fit whatever
need he happened to have at the time.

TC,
R