Kale and other greens grow in a field at Peaceful Belly Farm in Caldwell, Idaho on July 7, 2022. (Carly Whitmore/U.S. Department of Agriculture)
Two years ago, Galen Lee was trying to buy a plot of land in Fruitland to farm, but he was outbid by a housing developer for twice as much as he could offer.
Lee is a fourth generation farmer in Payette County, and he raises sugar beets, peppermint, asparagus, alfalfa, corn and beef.
This year, those developers converted 20 acres of that piece of land in Fruitland into housing developments. Next year, they will develop it into more housing, Lee said.
“It’s frustrating as a farmer, but it makes sense economically,” he told the Idaho Capital Sun.
Lee is one of many farmers who is competing against other industries for land.
Between 2017 and 2022, Idaho lost 2,119 farms and 144,000 acres of farmland, according to the U.S. Census of Agriculture’s 2022 data , which was released in February.
And the main reason behind Idaho’s loss in farmland is an increase in population growth and the demand for development, Sean Ellis, spokesperson for the Idaho Farm Bureau told the Sun.