With the large wildfires on the minds of Utahns, I thought now would be a good time to remind people of a few things.
In the early 1900s more than 40% of the U.S. population lived and worked on farms. Today, less than 2% of the U.S. population works on farms. That means several things, but for today’s conversation it means that a lot of knowledge has been forgotten by the population as a whole. Here are some facts that I want to remind people of in regards to agriculture and the ongoing fires.
Grazing is a great way to reduce the fuel for fires. Livestock grazing utilizes those low quality forages to feed the animals. The grass and other plants that would normally build up are removed, and the nutrients they contain returned to the soil to improve it over time. Without grazing that plant matter builds up, stockpiling fuel for fires. Grazing also helps keep juniper trees in check. This is important because juniper trees crowd out other plants, consume much more water, and burn very well in a fire.
Green fields, especially around towns and communities, protect the community, in the form of a green firebreak. In the past, society understood this. Communities were built with farms surrounding them. Over time those fields have been replaced with houses and apartments. We implement policies that make farming more difficult, but we do not talk about how important farming and agriculture are for our communities. Food is abundant and cheap, and so we take agriculture for granted and fail to discuss how the policies our leaders implement hurt agriculture, or what it means when there are no more farms in the state. What will fires look like then?
Peter Greathouse, Lynndyl