Farm support worthy idea

By Terry Plumb - Special to The Herald

While watching the World Series one night, it dawned on me that even if baseball has lost its status as America's pastime, it remains a useful metaphor.

Although I seldom watch the sport before late October, I was reminded that the best baseball games aren't slugfests. They're won or lost by a run or two, often hinging on a hard-hit ball glancing off an infielder's outstretched glove or by a hit-and-run play.

Contrast that with pro football, clearly the more popular sport these days. Football is a game of big plays; baseball one of incremental moves.

In these economic times, baseball might be the more apt metaphor. For example, South Carolinians learned last week that Boeing would build an assembly plant in Charleston, eventually producing 3,000 jobs. Unfortunately, it might take five years for those jobs to materialize. In the meantime, the state will see a continuing erosion of its manufacturing base, especially in textiles, the leading jobs source for much of our history.

Landing a Boeing plant is a home run for the state's economic development, but it will take a lot of singles and doubles if South Carolina is going to dig itself out of the recession.

That's true in York County, too. Largely because of convenient access to boomtown Charlotte, for many years we could look smugly upon less fortunate counties with shuttered mills and double-digit unemployment.

Even in better times, however, troublesome signs were evident. How many times have we read an announcement about a major employer moving to town, lured by hefty tax breaks, only to hear a few years later that the operation was shutting down because of global competition?

That's not to say that government shouldn't offer incentives to prospective employers. It's good, however, for leaders to draw on the best ideas for helping diversify our economic base.

Case in point: A recent York County Council meeting produced a spirited discussion about whether that body had a legitimate role in promoting agriculture.

On the one side were established agribusiness figures, including peach farmer Arthur Black of York and cattle rancher Ted Bartee of Clover. They urged the council to support a proposed “agricultural center” that would host an equestrian center, fairgrounds and other agriculture-related activities.

Offering an opposing point of view was Rick Lee of Rock Hill, an engineer by profession and a former county councilman. Lee argued that York County's future in providing “urban centers” that serve Charlotte.

“I just don't see an equestrian center is going to create much in the way of wealth,” he said.

In terms of direct payroll, Lee might be right, but I think he's off-mark on several points. For one, vacant office space throughout the Charlotte region illustrates risks inherent in relying on Charlotte to drive local economies.

Also, agribusiness and tourism, small but important industries in this county, share this advantage: Both boost revenue without relying on creation of residential neighborhoods — the biggest user of public services.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, more than 20 percent of York County is classified as farmland. If timberland and other open space are factored in, a large portion of the county's nearly 700 square miles is undeveloped. It would behoove everyone if as much of that land remained that way for as long as possible.

Estate laws, property taxes and the rising average age of farmers have caused agribusiness to lose ground in recent years. Local elected officials can't do much about those things.

At the same time, concerns over food safety, a yen for “local food” and growing interest in sustainable agriculture have led to exciting new ventures nationwide — from truck farms that make extra cash with pumpkin patches, to food-sharing cooperatives in which consumers invest in a farm's output.

If local governments can deter development by helping farmers hold onto their land, they ought to consider any reasonable proposal. Better to collect a single here and there than to pin the county's hope on a home run that might never materialize.

Let me put it this way: When Rick Lee was on the County Council, he supported public bikeways. When I visit local farmers markets, I see more people than I ever see biking.