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Editorials
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Farm studies
The state of agriculture in Rappahannock is getting a indepth look, according to the latest issue of the Rappahannock * Farmers’ Association newsletter, the RFA Reporter.
The Rappahannock Agricultural Advisory Committee succeeded in raising $32,500 to study the county’s farmers and farmland owners. Survey subjects include determining the types of agriculture that succeeds and that which does not, problems encountered by county farmers, how they cope with those problems and what changes in methods would enable them to thrive.
Another part of the study will examine the spill-over benefits of agriculture (for example, tourism, reduced public expenses, etc.). If possible, the second part of the study will “generate the information required by public officials and citizens in deciding whether the county’s agriculture is worth protecting.” Of course it is, but the study will hopefully make the value of farming more striking to the non-farmer.
According to the RFA Reporter, there are measurable trends in county farming. The number of farms in Rappahannock dropped from 313 in 1982 to 288 in 1987. Of the farms left in 1987, 186 reported gross income of less than $10,000—and only three had gross income greater than $250,000.
And the number of acres in farmland went down -17 percent during the period 1982-87, a truly sad statistic.
The RFA Reporter goes on to discuss how the county has changed agriculturally over the years. Census data shows that in 1925 there were 995 farms here, in 1945 851 and in 1965 only 276. Thankfully that number increased some in the ’60s and ’70s, but the impact of real estate speculation took its toll in the ’80s.
For farming to survive in the coming decades, it will take sound planning and solid facts on which to base plans. The survey of our status quo is an excellent place to start.
School funding
Taking drastic measures to conserve funds, Superintendent David Gangel got drastic results, keeping the budget low enough that no property tax increase was needed this year— even as state revenues were dropping dramatically.
The county public schools have taken an aggressive approach to obtaining grants, again getting results. But at some point cutbacks and austerity measures are going to hurt the quality of the educational system, and there’s some reason to wonder if that might be happening sooner rather than later.
Program budgets are so tight that the high school soccer team may be forced to play an abbreviated schedule again next
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