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The Need for Agricultural Protection/Planning is Based <br />on Four Assumptions: <br />1. Population growth in the County will continue. <br />2. A crucial goal for Florida and Indian River County is to preserve its <br />internationally recognized agricultural capacity, which means adequate <br />amounts of land must be preserved for farming. <br />3. Farmland has different values to different people. <br />4. Urban expansion will continue to be the overriding force for land use unless <br />agricultural and urban interests work together. <br />Viewpoints of Farmers and Residents occupying land at the <br />Urban Service Area (USA) Perimeter* <br />Farmers: <br />Restraints on normal agricultural <br />practices such as spraying, mowing, <br />cultivating. <br />Liability for trespassers. <br />Theft, vandalism, litter. <br />Damage from pets. <br />Exotic pests --for example, the Medfly. <br />Urban traffic creating problems for <br />tractors and farm machinery on local <br />roads. <br />Residents/Urbanites: <br />Pesticide use, particularly the problem <br />of drift. <br />Nighttime activities involving lights <br />and noise. <br />Odor, particularly from animals, <br />manure, and compost fertilizers. <br />Flies, mosquitoes, and other pests. <br />Tractors and farm machinery on local <br />roads. <br />Dust and smoke. <br />Both groups site general economic or environmental concerns arising from proximity. In <br />addition, uncertainty or unpredictability of future land use at the expanding edge can be a <br />disadvantage to both farmers and urbanites. <br />*Source- Maintaining Viable Agriculture at the Urban Edge, R. Coppock and M. Kreith ed., <br />Agricultural Issues Center, Univ. Of Calif. April, 1997. <br />Two Ways That Can Help Farmers and Non -Farmers <br />Live Together as Neighbors <br />1. Technological developments and farming practices that help individual <br />farmers co -exist with their urban neighbors. <br />2. Land use planning, community design and other public sector techniques <br />that help preserve farmland and maintain a viable agriculture, particularly <br />near urbanized areas. <br />FEBRUARY 249 1998 <br />-57- <br />X00'' <br />