Many state residents are becoming concerned that too much of Connecticut's farmland has been converted to other uses. There are now only about 450,000 acres of farmland in Connecticut (about 14 percent of the state), down from 1,600,000 acres in 19452 Our disappearing local farms have many important values, in addition to their scenic and symbolic ones - the farms are productive and they grow high quality food. For example, corn yields per acre are 30 percent above the national average - higher than Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Ohio, and the Dakotas; milk production per cow is also above the national average." In addition, the taste of fresh fruits and vegetables from the farm down the road can't be beat - especially in comparison to tomatoes picked green, chemically ripened, and trucked in from thousands of miles away.

But despite the productivity and quality of Connecticut's farms, only 15 percent of fruits and vegetables and 50 percent of dairy products consumed in Connecticut are produced in Connecticut." Our reliance on other states for our food not only lowers the quality of what we cat, but may also be endangering our future food supply. Development is pressuring farmland all over the United States, particularly in Florida and California, and permanently eroding the country's agricultural base. As the population of North America and the rest of the world continues to rise, Connecticut's ability to feed her own will become increasingly critical.

In the four centuries following European colonization of North America, Connecticut has seen several phases of land use come and go. The great productivity of Connecticut's colonial farms, combined with immigration, produced a growing population that by the early 19th century had filled Connecticut to the brim. Discovery of the rich Midwestern farmlands and the coming of the industrial revolution relieved Connecticut of her land shortage and led to a hundred years of urban growth. Following World War II, improved technology and the increased size, wealth, and mobility of society greatly increased our appetite for land. We now are able to use more land, and so we do use

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