Farm auctions affect a whole community, not just individual landowners

Photo by Robert Bye, Unsplash

Journalist, maple tapper and former New Hampshire agriculture commissioner Steve Taylor, tells the story of how the hill country of the upper Connecticut River valley was transformed over more than a quarter of a century by farm auctions. 

Writing for Valley News in West Lebanon, N.H., and White River Junction, Vt., Taylor describes how each auction affects the larger community, not just individual owners. "Chances are it is bringing down the curtain on a life’s work, an ending compelled by bodies aging out, debts that can’t be covered by cash flow or plain old bad luck. The effects will spread beyond the farm being dismantled and into the neighborhood, the town and the whole region."

He writes that the peak period for farm auctions occurred from 1950 to 1975 when hundreds of farms were sold. But the auctions still take place regularly, and often the farms are bought by people who are more interested in development than farming. 

"There may be fewer farm auctions, but the ones that happen today are, like their forebears, always social occasions," he writes. "Relatively few bidders actually buy anything—they’re there to watch the action, take note of selling prices and, above all, chew the fat with fellow farmers in the crowd. 

"Interestingly, farm auctions have had an impact on pressing public issues. An example is the adoption in Vermont of Act 250, the landmark legislation aimed at slowing down the pace and side effects of what was considered rampant, uncontrolled real estate development."