Sunset, sunrise: Scott's farm board is back

Scott County's farmers lost their voice for a little while. But they have it back.

An advisory group aimed at giving the agriculture community a say in the future uses of the countryside has been restored and renamed after being quietly jettisoned late last year.

And the group's new chairwoman couldn't be happier.

"It's very encouraging to see a continued interest in having a group such as this move forward," said Jennifer Jensen, who operates a small farm with her husband in Sand Creek Township near Jordan.

She and others on the panel were startled to hear that it had been "sunsetted," in the words of an e-mail from a county official.

Today there's so much interest among county commissioners in joining the group that not all of them can be squeezed in, said board Chairman Tom Wolf.

"Dave Menden has expressed interest, Joe [Wagner] and I have interest, and we can't all be on it because of the open meeting law," he said. "So one of us will have to be an alternate. But it's good that there's plenty of interest."

"We're looking into that and will discuss it," she said. "We plan to publicize through the county what's going on with the new group and that it's open to newcomers to join. Plus, anyone's free to come to any meeting. We can't force a person to come, but the door's open. We're sensitive to that."

The county has said that small-scale, high-value farming may well be the future for a county in the metro area.

With nearly 120,000 acres still being farmed in Scott, a 2009 report said, "The historic trends in Scott County indicate a substantial increase in farms that are 10-49 acres in size, and a corresponding decrease in farms that are 50-99 acres and 100-219 acres." The average is about 150 acres.

A furor arose a few years ago when the county was drawing up its latest long-range comprehensive plan. The plan called for the suburbanization of much of the western part of the county.

The county had consulted with its traditional rural stakeholders -- township officials and the like. But it was caught off guard when a public hearing on the plan turned into several hours of passionate testimony, much of it from a new breed of local-food advocates.

The creation of an official farm advisory group was the county's effort to defuse the situation. It resulted in some tweaks, including changes to rules governing on-site sales of farm goods. Earlier this year, FLAG pronounced itself happy with what had transpired.

With development in rural areas almost totally evaporating -- new platting of township land this year is down to less than a trickle, from what was once a torrent -- some at the county level were inclined to let the farm group lapse.

But even now the county is laying plans for ideas like future highways through farm country. It's the kind of thing that advocates want to be a part of.

The group is still very much in the phase of just getting itself reestablished, Jensen said. But she said "corridor studies" -- plans for new or expanded roadways -- will certainly be a key topic.

Addressing county board colleagues, Wolf spoke of a "resurrection" of the board. Jensen prefers the earlier analogy: