Agricultural Economic Development

11 April 2004 - 11:00am

Four upstate New York counties are luring farmers and would-be farmers in order to prevent development.

"Since Jefferson, Lewis, Oneida and St. Lawrence counties in New York began a marketing program, dubbed 'Come Farm With Us,' in 2001, 31 farms have sold within the four-county area for about $6 million total and 12 farms have sold in a neighboring county... 'We have an aging population of farmers here and the next generation of these families is not interested in farming,' says Ms. Ledoux. 'We're trying to promote this area as a great area for agriculture to farmers who are being pushed out of where they are or can't get out of the driveway with a manure spreader because there's too much traffic.' "

Source: Wall St. Journal, April 3, 2004
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This is in fact the kind of self-sufficient, self-sustaining 'village' community that Mahatma Gandhi -- the Father of the Nation -- dreamt of and wrote about in his books on India’s path to development.