Editor:
I really want to address this to Leland Hogan, President of the Utah Farm Bureau Federation who wrote a guest editorial in this publication. I was very happy to see this editorial on the situation of the young dairy farmer in the Mapleton area. I had read an article when his troubles began and wondered what had happened since then.
It is sad how persons come from urban areas to live in small towns and rural areas because they like what they perceive is rural living. But they bring the urban culture within themselves and often find it difficult to live the real small town, rural way of being. This creates a tension with those who do live the rural culture. The sadder part is when those of that area allow the urban way of living to prevail and destroy what these persons have moved there to experience, rather than give them time to learn how to really find out what it is like and love it.
I also note the injustice toward the dairy farmer in that he was given the go ahead that he had to act on to set up his farm. He had to presume that it would be confirmed. Then the city pulls it out from under him and only partially gives money toward the expenses he had to incur.
We need to do all we can to encourage and help young farmers or we will be the poorer for it in many ways. Ways such as, having even more food come from distant places of production and therefore with less food value; less healthy social living, as more people crowd together to be able to make a living; more expensive food, as the large producers are free to charge what they will from their vantage of monopolies.
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