Dear editor:

There have been many letters over the past six months and each has presented opinions  and various facts about life in rural Wyoming. I feel compelled now to write about agriculture’s role in our nation and about its role in Park and Big Horn counties.  

I like to eat. In fact, I prefer to have three meals a day of nutritious, safe food grown  domestically in America. What are the factors involved in making that happen? First, the U.S. needs soil that can grow crops and livestock. Soils are objectively classified  nationwide. The soils in Park and Big Horn were classified historically in order to  allocate crop irrigation waters. Many farms in Park County have a clay soil with high pH that predetermines the successful crops: sugar beets, barley and dry beans. Our farmers are among the top dry bean producers in the country. The soils in Class 6 would be perfect for sub-division and development without interfering with agriculture. 

Second, the U.S. needs clean water for crops and livestock. Park and Big Horn counties are blessed with the Buffalo Bill Dam and Reservoir, part of the Bureau of Reclamation system in Wyoming, originally established to create a farming/livestock industry. The irrigation system coming out of Buffalo Bill is a world-class, gravity-fed, irrigation system owned and operated by local districts and individuals. It is a rare, well-run, efficient way to deliver water to over 90,000 acres. It is something that should be preserved and valued.  

Third, the U.S. needs farmers and ranchers, people who are businessmen and women who are experts in food production and are willing to assume the risk of running an ag business. There are no price guarantees when you put a seed in the ground or pull a calf. Park and Big Horn County operations are often multi-million dollar businesses that impact county employment, banking, tax revenue and retail sales. In other words, it is big business for our counties. 

Fourth, a more subtle factor in survival of agriculture in Park and Big Horn counties is  the market producers sell to. For example, Boise and Nampa, Idaho, used to be large farms yielding food and economic stability for Idaho. Now both are suburbs of houses and highways.

Could that happen here? Yes. There are fewer acres available for production contracts when production acreage is sold off for development. For each commodity there is a threshold volume at which it is no longer profitable for buyers to let out contracts in a given geographical region. A slow trickle of farmers selling acreage leads to bigger sales for more money. Suddenly, there are not enough production acres for contracts. How important is domestic food production to the U.S., to us, to you? How can land sales and small acreage development be directed so as to  minimize impact on food production? Are there actions we can take to preserve food production? Thank you for reading my thoughts. 

Sandra M. Frost 

Laramie