Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 28, 1993 TAG: 9307280067
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By DAVID REED Associated Press
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
"We joke that the first thing people say when they come here is they like the rural atmosphere and the second thing they say is they want to build something," McDonald said.
The number of farms in Virginia dropped 43 percent between 1970 and 1992 while farm acreage fell about 24 percent. Adding the health rap against red meat, you'd think the beef industry in Virginia would be heading for hard times.
But things are better than they seem at a glance.
McDonald actually has increased the size of his herd - the cattle are concealed in the shady parts of the 230-year-old farm. And a study of the industry by Virginia Tech's Department of Animal Science predicts steady growth for the state's top agricultural commodity.
"Virginia has a thriving beef cattle industry and possesses the infrastructure to support expansion," according a copy of the study obtained by The Associated Press. The 74-page document to be released in August was paid for by the beef check-off program, a self-tax that cattlemen pay to support research and promotion.
The Virginia Cattlemen's Association will use the study to show the economic and environmental benefits of the industry while buttressing arguments for favorable zoning and tax laws.
The sale of cattle and calves in Virginia leads all agricultural commodities. The $412 million in gross receipts accounts for 20 percent of all agricultural farm income, twice as much as tobacco and nearly as much as chicken and turkey revenues combined.
The study predicts a further decline in dairy, sheep and some row crops and an increase in the beef cattle herd - from 735,000 cows to 850,000.
In the past 20 years, Virginia's population has increased 33 percent and the number of beef cattle has grown 36 percent.
Ike Eller, a Virginia Tech animal scientist and co-author, said cattle can graze right up against housing developments because the animals cause little pollution or smell, unlike concentrated operations like poultry and hog farms.
But Eller said elevated land values brought about by nonagricultural development threatens the profitability of cattle farming.
In areas such as Roanoke and Campbell County, politicians are pushing for changes in tax laws that would assess farm land for what it could be sold for. Roanoke Mayor David Bowers has said the city is running out of room to grow and the tax change would encourage development of the land.
When the oldest McDonald came to the base of Brush Mountain from Scotland and started a farm in 1763, the Revolution and 35 years would pass before Blacksburg became a town. Now the growing college town includes the McDonald farm in its boundaries.
"Brother Jim and I are seventh-generation farmers, but you can't call me Old McDonald yet," Bill McDonald said.
Cattle farmers can't survive, though, if the land is taxed at market value, he said.
"The cattle industry is a land-extensive business. If they tax the land for what developers would pay for it, then that's what it will become - developed land."
The study points out that local governments have to provide far fewer services and schools for land in agriculture than for land for suburbs.
Another threat outlined by the study is environmental regulation stemming from attempts to clean up the Chesapeake Bay, which takes drainage from about two-thirds of Virginia's land area.
The Environmental Protection Agency said in 1982 that land used for pastures accounted for between 4 percent and 13 percent of the nitrogen and phosphorus reaching the bay, and environmentalists have suggested rules that would keep cattle away from streams.
There are thousands of miles of streams on Virginia cattle farms, and the cost of fencing cattle away from the water and providing alternative water sources "would present a severe economic hardship for most cattle producers," the study said.
It takes one to four acres of pasture for each cow, the study said, so most of the waste is absorbed by the dense growth of grass.
McDonald said his farm causes less pollution than it would if it were developed for housing, which would increase the demand for water and the amount of soil eroding into waterways.
"I don't want to do anything detrimental to the land - we make our living on the land," he said. "We've invested a lot of money in farming and we hope to be here for the long term."
by CNB