An uncertain future.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009 at 10:19AM The most insistent and formidable concern of agriculture, wherever it is taken seriously, is the distinct individuality of every farm, every field on every farm, every farm family, and every creature on every farm.
-Wendell Berry, "Imagination In Place"
A few weeks ago, Joe and Sara received some pretty devastating news. Fig Leaf, their distinct and individual farm where for the past two years they've been growing organic vegetables, raising animals, and carving out quite an enviable agrarian existence that acts as a sharp counterpoint to their otherwise crowded lives, is in grave danger. Over the last three years, the railway corporation Norfolk Southern has been clandestinely buying up property near and adjacent to Joe and Sara’s place at the southernmost tip of Jefferson County. Now they’ve announced their plans – to build a 316-acre, $112 million intermodal rail facility.
If you’ve never heard of such a thing, an intermodal rail facility is a place where trucks and trains meet to offload and load various freight. Think of it like a huge shipping yard on land. Hundreds of shipping containers, filled with all the stuff of our global economy, stacked like Lincoln logs across a sprawling rail yard with dozens of parallel tracks, ringed by one-hundred foot light poles with daytime bright lights burning throughout the night. And the trucks. Nearly 8,000 eighteen-wheelers a month – which is one every six minutes. Every hour. Every day.
The proposed site literally abuts Fig Leaf Farm’s lower fields, where organic corn is growing this season. Sara and Joe are in a particularly unenviable position – they’re not being bought out for the proposed facility, but their property value and quality of life stand to suffer tremendously by its proximity.
There should be little doubt that the state of Alabama and all the economic movers and shakers herein define “development” and “progress” by exactly this kind of project. We’ve forfeited countless acres of farmland to corporations lured here by tax breaks, who are permitted to pollute with the lax oversight of ADEM, and whose only gift back to the state is some handful of jobs – most likely in manufacturing, without unions to protect their benefits, and with little or no upward mobility. The Norfolk Southern site, which initially promised about 8,000 jobs, now estimates only a tenth of those will actually be on site. That Alabama has seen fit to embrace this kind of “progress” while neglecting development in other industries that have a less destructive environmental impact is indicative of a state whose vision is as short sighted as our debates about tax increases are long winded. What’s at stake here is 316 acres of pristine farm land that most likely will never be farmed again. That’s a loss – not just for Sara and Joe and the residents of McCalla, but for every citizen of this state who needs and wants more access to clean and local food.
But there is still hope. Ground has yet to be broken, and there is an effort among local residents to stop this seemingly unyielding tide of corporate interest and brute money. They’ve formed a group called No Hub For McCalla and they’re busy organizing different strategies to try and stop the development. To that end, the organization is having a fundraising dinner at Fig Leaf Farm this Saturday, from 5-7pm. You can find out more by visiting their fundraising page. If you can make it, please send Joe (joebrown(a t)bama.ua.edu) an email to let him know you’re coming. They need a head count to know how much to make.
All who attended the Alabama Supper last November know the value and the beauty of this farm. It needs and deserves to be protected. We hope to see you there on Saturday. Thanks for your support.
Reader Comments (2)
Thanks for the support! And N-S have said that there will only be 70 jobs on-site (<1%). Not only will this be sacrificing prime farmland, but the strictly economic cost-benefit is more cost than benefit.
Hope to see y'all and others out there!
I didn't realize that my family is so close to yours. Our small farm would also be affected negatively by this. Hope to meet you Saturday.