American Farmland Trust coming here to reveal findings from analysis of farmland threatened by development

The president and CEO of the American Farmland Trust will come to Midway Saturday morning to promote his group's forthcoming report, report, “Farms Under Threat: The State of America's Farmland.”

John Piotti will join local agricultural leaders for two press conferences in Kentucky, the first on the Riddle farm at 603 Fishers Mill Rd., just across South Elkhorn Creek in Scott County. He will be accompanied by AFT board member Libby Jones of Midway and Jessie Wilder, executive director of the Bluegrass Land Conservancy.

The second press conference, between Cecilia and Rineyville in Hardin County, will include Jones and Keith Rogers, chief of staff to state Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles. AFT says both events will announce "the first major findings" from the report.

AFT says it is coming to Kentucky because the state has much high-quality farmland that could be the target of low-density rural development, the building of single-family homes on lots of more than one to two acres. That is indicated by this AFT map:

"Government officials and nonprofit organizations have been aware of Kentucky's loss of farmland and have taken meaningful steps to slow it," AFT says in a press release. Speakers at the press conferences "will discuss past farmland-protection successes and preview future efforts."

AFT says its full report, to be released next month, "is the most comprehensive analysis of the location, quantity and quality of U.S. farmland lost to development ever done. The report will include maps of the contiguous United States that show actual patterns of farmland loss within counties.

It is also the first study to examine the effect that low-density rural development . . . has on the loss of agricultural land nationwide."

The group argues, "Low-density rural development is particularly harmful because it burdens the land while benefiting few people, can cause problems for the remaining farmers trying to farm and may push farming to more marginal land where it will require more resources."