Fresh Fields

Putting entrepreneurial agriculture to work for America's land and people requires a new type of thinking about farming and economic development. As a congressional conference committee meets this month to complete the 2002 Farm Bill, writer and economist Patty Cantrell makes a convincing case for lawmakers to keep provisions of the bill that help small and medium size farms. In her new piece for the Elm Street Writers Group, Ms. Cantrell argues that like hometown banks or specialty retail stores, small and medium size farms are succeeding. They do it by adding value to their products with a friendly face or specialty processing, by finding new ways to consumers, and by finding profitable market niches -- anyone for goat's milk yogurt? Net returns for entrepreneurial farmers are often 40 and 50 percent versus the conventional farm's 15 to 20 percent. That's a significant economic factor for leaders across the country who are working overtime to generate jobs and save farmland and open space