To add to Maritza's concern: the farmland around Champaign is among the richest, most fertile soil in the whole world. Every time a new subdivision goes up on that fertile soil, removing ever more land that could be used for agriculture, I wonder what we're doing. What does it say about society when a farming family can make more money by the one-time (irreversible?) change of land usage from agriculture, a long-term endeavor, to more housing for the upwardly mobile, or, in the case of N. Prospect, for another huge box store that doesn't want to keep paying the lease on a not-as-big-but-still-HUGE building closer to town center?
The Value of Land
To add to Maritza's concern: the farmland around Champaign is among the richest, most fertile soil in the whole world. Every time a new subdivision goes up on that fertile soil, removing ever more land that could be used for agriculture, I wonder what we're doing. What does it say about society when a farming family can make more money by the one-time (irreversible?) change of land usage from agriculture, a long-term endeavor, to more housing for the upwardly mobile, or, in the case of N. Prospect, for another huge box store that doesn't want to keep paying the lease on a not-as-big-but-still-HUGE building closer to town center?