‘Absentee’ owners harm conservation

The June 11 article “Non-farmers own most farmland,” raised some interesting, concerning issues about farmland ownership in Iowa, not least of which is how the land itself is conserved.

Several members of my family farmed through the Dust Bowl era of the 1930s. I can remember my grandfather being recognized by Iowa State University for farm practices such as grass waterways, strip cropping and crop rotation.

“Absentee ownership” of farmland has, and is, undermining the lessons learned from that generation of landowning farmers. In the case of non-farming land owners, conservation of soil and sound farming practices has suffered. No longer is the owner of the land present on a daily basis to see the results of poor farming practices, and the person (renter) that is tilling that ground is less concerned about the long-term sustainability of the land. With absentee ownership of our farmland, we have become a generation concerned only about what the land will produce this season rather than with making the land produce for generations to come.

Burton Davis

Delaware