Sprawl Wars
Culture clashes between farmers and new arrivals as sprawl extends its tendrils into rural areas...
A farmer receives a ticket for staying out in his fields too late. A homeowner threatens legal action because his neighbor's tractor keeps him from hearing his television. Another farmer is sued by neighbors for using a shotgun-blast simulator to keep birds out of his corn. Local officials, meanwhile, urge farmers to be considerate and time their manure-spreading so it doesn't coincide with family outings...
"I grew up on a hog farm, and we always took cookies to the neighbors before we hauled out manure," says Jeremy Harrison, head of the Farm Bureau's Wood County office in northwest Ohio.
Others blast the naivete of suburbanites who show up expecting a Wordsworthian idyll and then get annoyed by truck traffic, combines churning at all hours, and unfamiliar smells. A planning office in Michigan is distributing a pamphlet with a special "scratch-and-sniff" area, intended to dispel fantasies about country life.
Besides the suburban/rural divide, there's also the issue of large, mechanized farms, a source of rage for traditional farmers and ex-urban newcomers alike.
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