If public money is spent on agriculture, it should be to obtain specified public goods.
In developed economies, countryside policy needs to be reviewed. Too much money has been wasted on 'agricultural support' with public disbenefits, including:
mass-produced 'industrial' food of low quality
the destruction of wildlife habitats
loss of scenic quality
loss of tree cover
canalization of rivers
Rural planning and policies should revised to produce a range of public goods through EID:
a strategic reserve, for food production
greenways
high-quality 'hand made food' and 'wild food'
the creation of new wildlife habitats
recreational opportunities
the enhancement of scenery
additional tree cover
the reclamation of rivers
the conservation of farm walls, buildings and other historic features
These objectives can be achieved with a variety of measures, but only when the land has been mapped and evaluated. A series of overlapping policy plans can then be prepared.
Private 'ownership' of land is a limited right. We may 'own' a farm. In time of war, we may be asked to die for our country. Belloc wrote that 'They died to save their country and they only saved the world'. Nothing belongs to us for long. I have use of some air for some time. Water stays with me a little longer. My use of the earth's surface may be for three score years and ten. But all are borrowed and shared. Some land, and some easements, can be owned by the public. 'Public' ownership should be diversified. Rights can belong to local and national government, local and national trusts, churches and monasteries, charities, groups of local residents, groups with special recreational interests. It is a bad thing for too much land to belong to any one organisation or type of organisation.
