An Infinite Supply of Finite Resources 7Then he would pause and deliver the same message I had heard be-
fore: “I plan to hold on to the land, not for what you might be willing
to pay, but for what the land can provide.” With that explanation,
the strangers would walk dejectedly back to their car. As they drove
away, he would remind me, “You know, they’re not making any more
farmland. Once it’s sold, it’s gone for good.”
I had watched him turn down buyers enough times that, a few
years later, I was caught off guard when he sold several acres of prime
farmland. The year previous, he had shattered his leg in an accident
and spent the next nine months housebound, unable to farm. During
the long recovery, a physician visited occasionally. Just as with others,
the conversation eventually turned to wanting to buy farmland. In
the near future, the story went, he would build a home, stable a few
animals, and grow some hay.
With the understanding that, if the doctor changed his mind, my
father would have first rights to buy the land back, they came to an
agreement. My father believed a person was as good as his word, and
the deal was consummated with a handshake. Money was exchanged
and title transferred. While it was not my place to question his actions,
I nonetheless wondered whether the accident and cabin fever had
influenced his decision.
Soon thereafter, a fence appeared, marking the boundary between
the physician’s new property and our farm. In a manner of weeks, once
prime farmland was producing weeds. The realization set in that the
new owner was not interested in building a home and growing hay.
Every so often, a hired man showed up with his tractor and rotary
brush cutter to knock down the weeds; but the owner no longer came
around. When my father resumed farming and worked the adjacent
fields, he had plenty of time to look over what had once been productive
farmland for growing food.
Whatever he thought, he chose not to share it with me. The seasons
passed and life went on, until one day he was diagnosed with advanced
kidney cancer. Four months later he passed away.
The week following his burial, before a headstone was placed at his
gravesite, posts were sunk into the ground at the entrance to the sold
field. A large sign was erected. Land he once farmed to grow wheat,
barley, and alfalfa was put up for sale. The asking price was not based