The Grand Food Bargain

 Forces Driving More

surface and distribute it on fields. Liquid energy built the highways,
railways, and waterways, then fueled the trucks, trains, and ships that
became the backbone of the modern food system. Soon enough, a net-
work of oil tankers, refineries, storage tanks, and filling stations would
make liquid energy appear as infinitely available.
As dependence on oil intensified, this illusion of an infinite supply
carried over to other resources. Scarce water was suddenly made to
seem abundant by drilling wells and pumping groundwater. Marginal
land was converted into intensive crop production by using synthetic
chemicals and fertilizer. With so much open space available nationwide,
few were concerned with guarding prime farmland from development.

v

The richness of the soil, and the vast quantity of lands,

have deceived many.

— Alexander Hewatt,  779

I grew up watching farmland get divided into roads, sectioned into
building plots, covered over with concrete, and planted with lawns.
As farmers aged and the value of farmland for development soared,
selling out to anxious buyers was just a matter of time.
Despite the Dead End sign where the lane to our house turned off
the main road, strangers in search of opportunity ventured up the lane,
parked in the driveway, and knocked at the front door. Preferring to let
my father handle it, my mother dispatched them toward the barnyard
where my father was working.
After a bit of searching, they would find him in the middle of a
task, often holding a wrench or grease gun. Like most farms, ours never
lacked for things that had to be done. Though pressed for time, my fa-
ther would invariably stop working and talk. After a few pleasantries
about the weather or the latest local happenings, the emboldened visi-
tors broached their question—would he part with just an acre or two
so they might build a home?
Before answering, he would look down at the ground, then kick up
a bit of dirt with his steel-toed boot. “I haven’t quite figured out how
to grow crops and raise animals without farmland,” he would answer.