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SHOULD SOME FARMS BE SAVED? 
N.I.P.C. LAUNCHES PROGRAM TO HELP DECIDE 
Agricultural and vacant land to- 
taled 1.5 million acres in northeas- 
tern Illinois in 1970. This is 64 
percent of all the land in the six 
counties of Cook, DuPage, Kane, 
Lake, McHenry and Will. On the 
average, 36 square miles of this 
land is being urbanized each year. 
Urban residents may regard 
farmland as either a land bank for 
future suburbs or as precious open 
space. Rural residents may be torn 
between retaining their community 
identity or cashing in on the in- 
evitability of urbanization. Can 
these interests be reconciled? And 
if a farm economy is to be retained 
in the region, what legal and eco- 
nomic strategies can limit urban 
encroachment? 
If existing tax assessment pro- 
cedures had been deliberately de- 
signed to clear the land for urban 
growth, they could not be more 
effective. Rising taxes in developing 
areas drive farmers, however un- 
willingly, off the land. When agri- 
culture declines, feed stores and 
other rural oriented businesses dis- 
appear. J 
What impact does changing land 
use have on the country town? 
How can small towns take advan- 
tage of urban amenities — health 
and social services — without 
sacrificing their rural character? 
In search of answers, the North- 
east Illinois Planning Commission 
has begun work on a Rural Conser- 
vation and Development Plan, as 
an element of the regional Com- 
prehensive General Plan. Andy 
Wicklein, Will County agricultural 
extension agent, has been loaned to 
NIPC by the University of Illinois 
Cooperative Extension Service. 
Wicklein will help establish a re- 
search program to: 
®Inventory farms, and gather 
and evaluate data on agriculture’s 
changing place in the region; 
© Determine the productivity of 
farmland through soil studies, and 
examine potential strategies for 
preserving soils suitable as farm- 
land; 
