Help needed: population density matter.

[Denny347]

It's gonna happen.

 

[indyblue]

My GF's 26yo daughter works for the USDA NRCS - National Resources Conservation Services. She is scared sh**less that if we continue to develop prime farm land at the current pace, we will not have enough land to feed the population in less than 50 years.

If the planned new vinyl home farm just west of Danville IN goes through, SR36 is going to be a traffic nightmare as there's really nowhere to widen 36 through town to accommodate the increased traffic.

 

[firecadet613]

Go look at your counties master plan to see the direction your local officials plan for your areas…

This! We are looking at moving out of a donut county and pulled master plans for all the counties we were considering. Great info in them...

 

[Ingomike]

My GF's 26yo daughter works for the USDA NRCS - National Resources Conservation Services. She is scared sh**less that if we continue to develop prime farm land at the current pace, we will not have enough land to feed the population in less than 50 years.

If the planned new vinyl home farm just west of Danville IN goes through, SR36 is going to be a traffic nightmare as there's really nowhere to widen 36 through town to accommodate the increased traffic.

On the other hand as a kid 200 bushel corn was the holy grail in central Indiana. Recently some trials hit 500 bushels per acre. I have similar concerns but not all hope is lost…

 

[TrueSeanamus]

My GF's 26yo daughter works for the USDA NRCS - National Resources Conservation Services. She is scared sh**less that if we continue to develop prime farm land at the current pace, we will not have enough land to feed the population in less than 50 years.

If the planned new vinyl home farm just west of Danville IN goes through, SR36 is going to be a traffic nightmare as there's really nowhere to widen 36 through town to accommodate the increased traffic.

That’s a serious concern. Same crap is happening in NE Indiana as well with hundreds of acres being bought up to go to waste with a solar panel farm, and 20k acres being taken up with wind turbines. We are taking some of the best land on earth for growing food and burying it in plastic, glass, and concrete. Our great grandchildren will rightfully curse us. What good is a dollar when you can’t buy any good, real food. No wonder they are pushing eating bugs so hard these days.

 

[Mij]

On the other hand as a kid 200 bushel corn was the holy grail in central Indiana. Recently some trials hit 500 bushels per acre. I have similar concerns but not all hope is lost…

Where is that? Source? or site? That’s some good ground.

 

[Ingomike]

Where is that? Source? or site? That’s some good ground.

I was told that by a scientist at what used to be Dow/Elanco in Indy.

 

[xwing]

Nearby development will more likely raise your property values, not lower them. While there are certainly many valid concerns with subdivision development on formerly rural land, it's far from "all bad". It is much better to be in a growing community than a shrinking one. I live on a large tract of rural land (by my choice) and am excited to see several new homes being built on or near my street. I don't want to directly live in a suburban area, but having a little more population nearby has as many benefits as it does drawbacks.

And "we won't have enough land to grow food on" is pure rubbish. Just look at crop yields / acre in the U.S. over time. The main valid concerns would be with local roads, services, and utilities not able to handle the increased load. These problems can be solved but take foreplaning and dedicated effort.

It makes sense to bring up your points of contention in the board meeting, but it's not like any board will say "no, we don't want more money, more influence, more jobs, more businesses, more population base"... Mainly the goal would be to get contractual agreement that some large portion of the immense additional revenue they bring would be dedicated to solving the community challenges / community improvement.

 

[Mij]

I was told that by a scientist at what used to be Dow/Elanco in Indy.

I’m surrounded by Purdue U. test plots. My own alfalfa fields have been in PU trials for years.

My neighbor (his fields anyway) to the west is one of the biggest seed corn producers in the eastern US. He grows/researches for Monsanto/ Pioneer.

My FIL grows for himself and Orville Redenbacher, BIL is ag scientist for Bayer, Purdue grad. His son, my nephew also Purdue grad in ag. Is taking over the family farm. Other BIL is Phd. Prof. of ag. science at UNC. Purdue grad.

I live 2.8 miles from the local grain elevator. I’m surrounded by row crop farmers that I’ve known for two decades, but what could I possibly know, but I’ve been mistaken before.

No rudeness intended just what I know to be facts. 500 bu/acre corn does not exist.


Edit to add: I can see a kazillion wind mills from my NW windows, three miles S of me is where they are installing the solar panel farm that has been in the news and a point of Contention for a long time. We’ve been fighting it but it’s a lost cause. Mitch D. Started this thing with biotown, now this whole area is going to be one big green experiment. In the long run that as well will be a lost cause. But the money is already in the pipeline and it will be spent (taken) by big business.

 

[Ingomike]

I’m surrounded by Purdue U. test plots. My own alfalfa fields have been in PU trials for years.

My neighbor (his fields anyway) to the west is one of the biggest seed corn producers in the eastern US. He grows/researches for Monsanto/ Pioneer.

My FIL grows for himself and Orville Redenbacher, BIL is ag scientist for Bayer, Purdue grad. His son, my nephew also Purdue grad in ag. Is taking over the family farm. Other BIL is Phd. Prof. of ag. science at UNC. Purdue grad.

I live 2.8 miles from the local grain elevator. I’m surrounded by row crop farmers that I’ve known for two decades, but what could I possibly know, but I’ve been mistaken before.

No rudeness intended just what I know to be facts. 500 bu/acre corn does not exist.

I believe he said North Carolina. But that is all I recall, as frankly I left the conversation as it got very technical, I was in a public place, and I was there to relax. LOL

 

[Ashton1911]

Any update on how the meeting went?

 

[snapping turtle]

Apartments were withdrawn off the table by the builder. I hear condos are a possibility.

They are still wanting to get R3 zoning for high density but I believe they will remove that also. (And the condos) When asked the price of the homes 350k plus now so I believe they are already thinking it will zone out R1. With all the building arbor is doing now at R1 no way 4 house per acre going to net 350k plus in current local market,

They have till Oct 11 to come up with road traffic studies, school population studies. Ect. We flooded the court room the meeting was held in to the point the could not let all in. This concerned the board.

One zoning board member was seeming very neighborhood friendly and let it slip to the neighbors and i that a 280 apartment building project on the other side of st rd 13 which will overload the elementary school alone. He actually drove to the area two days before meeting and looked at roads and traffic and saw an accident while he was there.

Seems someone on the payroll of the board also is employed by the civil engineering firm involved in the project. Lawyer or civil engineer? Looking this up this weekend. Not a good look for the board to have this employee to the public. since her contract was up this little fact leaked in the meeting.

 

[snapping turtle]

500 homes time 4 people per home is 2k.
Move in enough fishers type liberals and the voter base has turned blue.

That above is my opinion. 13 x current population in my mile area

 

[Mij]

I hope the best for you folks, but the plain facts are residential taxes are a bigger cash cow than ag ground taxes. And that’s the way the tax entity whatever it is, is going to look at it.

There is a reason the state government is attempting to move township trustees authority to the state level, they are the first, best line of defense against government intrusion into local (neighborhood) decisions about townships land use. Again good luck. Sincerely.

 

[Ingomike]

500 homes time 4 people per home is 2k.
Move in enough fishers type liberals and the voter base has turned blue.

That above is my opinion. 13 x current population in my mile area

Madison county is blue. LOL

 

[Ingomike]

I hope the best for you folks, but the plain facts are residential taxes are a bigger cash cow than ag ground taxes. And that’s the way the tax entity whatever it is, is going to look at it.

There is a reason the state government is attempting to move township trustees authority to the state level, they are the first, best line of defense against government intrusion into local (neighborhood) decisions about townships land use. Again good luck. Sincerely.

City annexation is also a big culprit…

 

[Wolfhound]

Where is that? Source? or site? That’s some good ground.

Here’s a guy getting 600+ per acre in Virginia. Not magic ground either.

How David Hula Grows 600-Bushel-Plus Corn

Virginia farmer David Hula soared past the 600-bushel-per-acre corn barrier in 2019. Here’s how he did it.

www.agriculture.com

 

[Mij]

Here’s a guy getting 600+ per acre in Virginia. Not magic ground either.

How David Hula Grows 600-Bushel-Plus Corn

Virginia farmer David Hula soared past the 600-bushel-per-acre corn barrier in 2019. Here’s how he did it.

www.agriculture.com

Great, a contest, on small acreage, with 9 passes of equipment each with an exact placement of material. And unlimited manpower. A total of 2400.00 dollars input per acre. Not counting cash rent for that acre. All planted under optimum weather condition. Net not quite 1000.00 dollars, now deduct the rent, let’s say 250-300 acre. Net is now ~600.00.

Do you have any idea how much that would cost to plant 2 or 3 thousand acres like that, (a common farm in Indiana) and the time/weather constraints. There’s the miracle if you could get one. The fert. alone would be in the multi millions, seed 1197 I think it said, that’s a triple stack about 300 per bag, and that was a few years ago. That’s a very large chunck of money. Now do all that, put many millions of dollars on the line, pray for the perfect weather conditions, now 3 weeks before harvest you get a fall storm, hail, wind, tornado. You not only lost your farm but EVERYTHING you or yours will ever own.

I didn’t say no one has ever grown 500 bu/ac, I said 500 bu/ac corn doesn’t exist. If it could be done or if it was even common there would be a lot of farmers doing it. There’s not. You know why? Cause 500 bu/ac doesn’t exist !

We all get those magazines with super yields of X brand of seed. We see there trials and test plot results. But that is under ideal conditions with extraordinary measures in place. The average farmer is lucky if he can get his crops planted in time for a fair harvest.

 

[Wolfhound]

Sorry, I took doesn’t exist to mean impossible. Nobody said farming was easy.

Your explanation makes sense. But, maybe someday. Who knows?

 

[Ingomike]

Great, a contest, on small acreage, with 9 passes of equipment each with an exact placement of material. And unlimited manpower. A total of 2400.00 dollars input per acre. Not counting cash rent for that acre. All planted under optimum weather condition. Net not quite 1000.00 dollars, now deduct the rent, let’s say 250-300 acre. Net is now ~600.00.

Do you have any idea how much that would cost to plant 2 or 3 thousand acres like that, (a common farm in Indiana) and the time/weather constraints. There’s the miracle if you could get one. The fert. alone would be in the multi millions, seed 1197 I think it said, that’s a triple stack about 300 per bag, and that was a few years ago. That’s a very large chunck of money. Now do all that, put many millions of dollars on the line, pray for the perfect weather conditions, now 3 weeks before harvest you get a fall storm, hail, wind, tornado. You not only lost your farm but EVERYTHING you or yours will ever own.

I didn’t say no one has ever grown 500 bu/ac, I said 500 bu/ac corn doesn’t exist. If it could be done or if it was even common there would be a lot of farmers doing it. There’s not. You know why? Cause 500 bu/ac doesn’t exist !

We all get those magazines with super yields of X brand of seed. We see there trials and test plot results. But that is under ideal conditions with extraordinary measures in place. The average farmer is lucky if he can get his crops planted in time for a fair harvest.

Where would you suggest we start to get to 500bu/ac corn? It does exist and is under way with many working to make it available to the average farmer…