I am currently working At Miller Farms, a family owned and operated 500 acre farm since 1949, as a Laborer. It is now owned by Joe Miller in the second generation. I am originally from Colorado Springs and work for the Millers every summer since I was 13 and looking for work. Today I am 18 and going off to Indiana for College in August. The farm is located 16 miles east of Longmont on HWY 66. This year has been our scariest, if not toughest, year for the farm. With the wells being taken away by the county of Boulder we no longer are certain how long the farm will last!

A fact of the area is that since I last checked Weld County was the second largest County in the production of Agriculture in the United States! Also ever since Zebulon Pike discovered Pikes Peak, he claimed this area as a Desert and declared no one could or would live here “In regard to this extensive section of country, I do not hesitate, in giving the opinion that it is almost wholly unfit for cultivation, and of course, not inhabitable by a people depending upon agriculture for their subsistence.”! Colorado’s Front Range is now growing at a Dramatic rate while our water reservoirs do not. Colorado Springs, for instance, has reduced the consumption of water per person through their water restraint programs however the usage has gone up because of the number of people moving to the area!

As Americans, we do not see or acknowledge problems in society that do not directly affect us! At farmers markets, where I sell our produce , many people would rather buy form Wall-Mart (and actually utter this under there voice to me)! Americans no longer care about the local farmers because China and Mexico can produce a lesser value product for cheaper! (Take the I-pod for example; it is a lesser quality of sound then a Compact Disc but it is cheaper so Americans take the I-POD). Granted Globalization is a very good force in the world and has brought along a increase in lifestyles for citizens all around the world, if we do not tap into our Agricultural recourse which is what America was founded on we will soon falter in the sense all our food will come from abroad and foreign nations will be able to dictate what food America will receive. Today Americans spend the least amount of money on Food per paycheck then any other nation in the world and have not seen an increase in grocery prices for some time now! However at this current trend I believe we are on the verge of one that no one will like!

I would like to leave off by saying: at one point in Americas History (specifically the late 18^th century) more then 75% of the Population were from rural regions. Today only 2% of Americans live and work in rural areas and that statistic is falling! Everyone has forgotten the American feeling and Dream of what owning Land is like and I do not mean a city back yard but actual acres of your own land!

Sited Sites;

http://www.coopext.colostate.edu/WELD/agriculture.htm, Weld County Colorado, Colorado State. Further citations on bottom of web site.