From Deseret News archives:

Davis ranch seeks protection

Published: Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2007 5:43 p.m. MST
 |  E-MAIL | PRINT | FONT + - 
CLINTON — John Diamond remembers when farmers were run out of town because their cattle stank.

That happened while he served on the Clinton City Council years ago. A farmer in Clinton had 6,000 head of cattle near 2300 North and 3000 West. Once subdivisions came into the area, residents began to complain to the city, and eventually the man shut down his operation and took it to Idaho.

It's easy to get worried about dwindling farmland. Subdivisions cover what used to be farms. And when barbed wire meets vinyl fence, there are bound to be clashes.

Diamond wants to run his pheasant-hunting, cattle and hay operations in peace, so he and his wife, Marilyn, applied for agricultural protection for 197 acres of land with Davis County in November 2006. If the Davis County Board of Commissioners grants agricultural-protection status to the Diamonds during the board's meeting today, it will be the sixth time the status was granted in the county since the law was enacted.

The last time was in 2003, when the commission protected 357 acres in the Syracuse area.

Story continues below
The state law that allows the Diamonds to apply for protection indicates that farmers were there first, so everyone who builds homes near farms should expect farm smells and sounds. Plats for any subdivisions within 300 feet of a protected area are supposed to be recorded with a special note that says residents aren't going to get anywhere if they complain about normal farming operations.

Since the Utah Legislature enacted the agriculture protection law in 1994, only Box Elder, Cache, Daggett, Davis, Iron, Kane, Sanpete, Sevier, Summit, Tooele, Utah, Washington and Weber counties have protected agricultural land for a grand total of 178,862 acres.

While Utah has seen a slight increase statewide in the number of acres devoted to farming in the past decade, the amount of farmland along the Wasatch Front has dropped. That mirrors the national trend of fewer farms on fewer acres.

Between 1987 and 2002, Davis County, despite its large growth, has lost about 2,000 acres, or 2.9 percent, of its farmland, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Other counties have seen more dramatic decreases.

In those same years, Utah County saw 150,000 acres of farmland — 31 percent — turned into other uses. Salt Lake County has about 86,000 acres of farmland — half of what it had in 1987. At about 86,000 acres, Weber County's farmland is about 43 percent of 1987 totals.

Comments

You can be the first to comment on this story.

Image

Jed Diamond's family has owned its Davis ranch for more than 20 years.

previousnext

Latest comments

Alta vs. Bingham: Wow, what a match-up? Bingham won the first meeting by four...

Prosecutors have Cardall report

Police need to be trained more and have a better understanding of people with...

Making a pitch — for Lou

Just for the record, while as far as I am aware, there is essentially no...

One per year in the whole state? That's pretty good if you ask me.

Here's why I've grown weary of the endless attacks on talk radio. Each time...

The only D1 player on MC will be Kuresa and he will not be going to Utah...

He should be in jail right now.

When will the right wing realize its impossible for someone to put themselves...

(Yawn) . . . nobody is interested on hearing how MC supposedly 'outplayed'...

I played for Timpview a few years back when they beat MC 38 to 0 in the...

Advertisements
Advertisement