An Urban's Rural View

Few would dispute Mark Bittman that expensive land discourages beginning farmers. Many would question his solution to this problem.

Does the influential ag critic appreciate how many? Maybe. He waits until nearly the end of a New York Times opinion piece innocuously headlined "Let's Help Create More Farmers" (http://www.nytimes.com/…) to drop his little bomb.

"Farming is -- or should be -- a social enterprise as much as a business, one that benefits all of us and uses the land conscientiously and ecologically," he writes. "Thus in the long run we've got to expand our vision to include some kind of land redistribution that would give those who want to work the land for our mutual benefit the ability to do so."

There's his solution: land redistribution. Or, rather, the hint of a solution. Perhaps Bittman has spelled out his thinking on another occasion. I read him regularly but I have not seen all his writings. He doesn't elaborate on the idea here.

So we don't know what exactly he means by "social enterprise" or how he would define "mutual benefit." We especially don't know from whom he would redistribute which land. The only hint of limits to his redistributive ambitions is an allusion earlier in the piece to the high price of "farmland near cities." Would he leave land farther out in the country un-redistributed?

Wherever the land, whatever use it is in at the time, its owners may be less than enthusiastic about giving it up. Commercial farmers would be opponents in principle, with most taking exception to the suggestion that they do not work the land "conscientiously or ecologically."

Even among true believers in Bittman's shrill critique of commercial agriculture, many would not share his casual approach to property rights. Anyone familiar with the glorious history of collective farming in Communist countries would have doubts about this scheme, as well.

Say this for Bittman: He is not afraid to take an out-there stance. This is a man who has equated cattle with atom bombs, arguing both have the ability to destroy the planet.

Say this, too: Bittman has a following. Thanks to the popularity of his cookbooks and his platform as a New York Times pundit, it's a considerable following.

Still, it's hard to see this particular Bittmanism gaining widespread traction, if I'm wrong and it does, commercial farmers are in much bigger trouble than most of them imagine.

Urban C. Lehner

(CZ)

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