LittleHawk, your imput was great as it always is. Today, it seems like we think strip malls are better than farmlands, or that we don't need farmland with stores selling us food on developed land.
The richest soil for farm land in Washington (where I live) was around an area called Tukwilla, a short ways south of Seattle. If you go by there today, there's one hughe mall, bunch of other stripmalls, small office buildings, etc. It's now officially the ugliest part of the state.
I also have an aunt and uncle who own a big farm outside St. Cloud in Minnisota. As the city expands, they're trying to aquire the sourounding land to develope with things not unlike those mentioned above. While I hope that they learn a lesson we didn't and don't recreate Tukwilla over there, they might not have much say. If the government decides that because their land can be developed, it should be zoned commercial, they then wouldn't be able to afford the property tax, forcing them to sell.
While all I've mentioned are farmers, it seems that we are trying to improve our economy by offering more things for sale, but we aren't thinking about being able to produce them. I personally do believe that the earth is perfectly capable of producing enough resources constantly to sustain such a population as we've become. But I'm not confident that our resources are being managed in a way that there will always be enough.
Well, I'm not entirley sure I know what I'm talking about anymore, so I should stop before it all looks worse!
BMW