Utah's farmers and ranchers still provide more than enough of a variety of crops and dairy products to meet the needs of state residents.
But explosive growth threatens that self-sufficiency. New subdivisions, particularly those sprouting along the populous Wasatch Front, are steadily eroding rich farmland.It's a trend that, left unchecked, could result in higher food prices or dramatic lifestyle changes. The state's agriculture commissioner, Cary Peterson, is trying to spread the message that Utah needs to find ways to preserve its farm land. He's right.
Unfortunately, clashes between urban and rural are becoming common along the Wasatch Front. Many farmers are tired of battling pulsating traffic with their plodding farm equip-ment. They are weary of the noise, pollution and vandalism that often accompanies urban encroachment. They can hardly be blamed for subdividing and selling their land, especially when huge profits are con-sidered.
Yet their departure is increasingly becoming a source of alarm. Since 1967, Utah has lost 340,000 acres of farm land, equating to 531 square miles. About two-thirds of that loss came within the last 10 years - much of it within the building boom of the last three years.
Utah is not alone. Urban and suburban developments are replacing farms in metropolitan areas nationwide. Most American cities were settled because of their rich, crop-producing soils. Unfortunately, as agrarian settlements have evolved into industrial centers of asphalt and concrete, much of that land has been covered or polluted.
In arid states, this phenomenon is particularly worrisome. Only about 1 percent of Utah's land was ideal for farming to begin with, and much of that now lies under the state's largest cities.
The Legislature recently created a Land Conservation Task Force, charging it with studying the preservation of agricultural land and open space. Lawmakers also gave cities and counties the option of protecting farms as agricultural production districts, compensating landowners in return for restrictions prohibiting the land's development for any other purpose.
Only a handful of counties have taken advantage of the opportunity to create such district. Salt Lake County is not among them.
Unfortunately, issues that pit development against conservation often are explosive and difficult for local governments to deal with. When it comes to preserving the state's agricultural resources, the Land Conservation Task Force ought to con-sider a more comprehensive ap-proach. The time has come to revive the concept of a statewide land-use plan.
More than 20 years ago, state lawmakers approved such a plan, but opponents forced a statewide ref-erendum in 1974 and overturned it. That was short-sighted. At the time, experts were predicting the state would double its population by the year 2000. Current population figures show the state is slightly ahead of those predictions.
A statewide plan could have guided the last 20 years of growth more intelligently than have the individual zoning laws of each city and county. Now that growth is accelerating at unprecedented levels, the need for a plan is more acute than ever.
Of course, government should not rob anyone who had planned to develop their valuable farm land. A method for just compensation would have to be integral to any plan.
But neither can the state afford to allow developers to rob it of its agricultural self-sufficiency. Utah must put a stop to the erosion of farm land.