Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 11 · column 1 of 4 · from the scan, no model involved
lhe German-born businessman, who imports and exports automobiles from his office in Baltimore's World Trade Center, anticipates a gross of $1,750 per acre from the portion of the farm reserved for the deer. He said that will mean a net of $500 per acre after amortization of the initial investment in land, stock, and fencing, payment of taxes, purchase of feed, and other production expenses.
That kind of profit margin will make a believer out of any traditional farmer who looks askance at deer.
“There are too many variables involved to estimate the per acre income for Rappahannock’s standard agricultural enterprises of beef cattle, small grains, and apple orchards,” said county extension agent and farmer Tommy Williams. “The biggest factor is the cost of land. And there’s a huge variation in production costs. Some people just do a better job of farming than others, but I can tell you that no one’s making anything like $500 an acre."
Farming everywhere is a risky proposition. Spiraling production costs, unstable markets, and the vagaries of weather bring floods at planting time when farmers don’t want rain and drought in the growing season when they do.
In the outlying counties on the fringe of Northern Virginia's spreading suburbia, these risks are compounded by increasingly heavy development pressures. So for years now, agricultural specialists have preached innovation to farmers who want to survive.
The results of those sermons include turf farms and
86.9%