Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Farmers: stewards of land, scourge of trees


La di dah, another day.
Another farmer has knocked down another bunch of trees on his land. It turns my stomach every time I drive past it. The first time, I nearly cried.
Farmers, like all of us, know that trees are essential for soil conservation. They provide a windbreak that we quite badly need around here.
They provide habitat for wildlife.
There is more to know about the importance of trees, of course, and farmers know it as well as any of us, if not better.
And yet they bulldoze those trees to get another few acres of croppable land.
It means more money in their pockets.
The bottom line is a big bold one.