The region's land topography and soil are classified as prime farmland and farmland of local importance by the Natural Resources Conservation Service. The soil developed after the last glacier retreated thousands of years ago.

Meaning, when we scrape away the topsoil and subsoils, they will never come back. A once productive farm, an independent and self-reliant area, now reduced to yet another space dependent on society for services.

Quietly, and without much fanfare, two extraordinary things happened at Crane Swamp last month.

When people talk about why it is important to protect farmland, we will often focus on the economic reasons, such as supporting a strong local economy or profitability for local farmers. Other times we may focus on our heritage, like the traditions of family farming or the sense of belonging to a community. These farming values are important to our culture and reason enough to protect farmland. However, much less discussed and therefore often underrated, are the Conservation Values of farmland. These are the values inherent to the land being farmed, as opposed to the values of the practice of farming. Land trusts generally describe these Conservation Values as the natural, open-space and scenic values of the land.

Hundreds of thousands of acres of Ohio farmland has been lost to development in the last 20 years. And according to a report from American Farmland Trust, it's likely that 40% of today's farmland will change hands over the next 20 years due to farmers retiring. How can family farm owners plan their exit feeling confident the future of family farming is viable? And how can our communities support them?