The mega potato farmer could grab these freed up acres, or the farm could just go vacant like so many others...who knows?
Why does this happen? Are the owners reluctant to sell or is there some other reason. Fascinates me this farming stuff but if there is demand for the land why does it go vacant.
It is rude to answer a question with a question, but who are we going to sell too? Kids are leaving Maine and Agriculture in the State of Maine is all but dead. There is some renewed interest in organic veggie farming, but as the original thread shows, when pressed for money, the consumer's check book always beats out quality, but expensive food. For the few that continue to buy, its going to be just like organic milk...too many growers and not enough buyers. Can people that move into Maine and buy farms compete against longer established farmers that do not have mortgages, equipment purchases and livestock overhead's to contend with? Not very likely in an already crowded arena.
It would be great if the mega-potato farmer grabbed these inactive farms, but that is not likely. Potatoes are incredibly hard to grow, and I would dare say they are probably the toughest row crop to raise. It starts with finding the right soil. Potatoes like a very particular kind of soil called Gravely Loam. That is because if the soil is not well drained, the potatoes will rot in the field while growing. But the potatoes also need good loam to allow quick uptake of nutrients by a plant that grows quickly. In short it has to be a unique mix of fertile, but rocky soil.
Then the area this soil is in needs to get plenty of rain. If you don't get rain, then the potatoes just won't grow, but as mentioned before, the excess water must drain off, but not on slopes so steep they would cause erosion.
Complicating things is the market. Obviously potatoes have to be a certain size or the buyers do not want them because the peeling to potato ratio would be high. But the market for potatoes is mostly for french fries so the potatoes cannot get too big either. So even in well drained soil, if the potato farmer has a drought, the potato crop is low because of undersized potatoes. Too much rain that summer and they are too big. You can't win!!
So you simply can't just potato farm anywhere. The two big areas for potato farming in Maine is in my town and in Northern Maine. (Thorndike and Caribou)
Now Caribou still has potato farms but we have converted into dairy farms...the last potato farm in my town ended in 1995. Now this great farming soil is used by local dairy farmers who depend on it to feed their cows. Dairy farming is not in danger of ending here, so there is too many people hoping for the same good soil. The other farmland...well there is no one interested in that so it goes fallow.
It takes about 3 years for the trees here to take over a field and make it useless for farming. It depends upon the size of course, but I hayed fields that are now harvestable for forest products and I am only 34 years old. In fact in 1900 90% of the land here was in fields, while 10% were in forests. Now it is 10% fields and 90% in forests...quite the change in 100 years. All would be well if the forest products industry was doing well, but papermills are closing at about 3 per year while saw logs are down in price by almost 50%.
I'd like to reverse the trend of losing fields to forests on my own land, but the cost of bulldozing stumps and rocks, tilling and reseeding is out of my price range and the NCRS will not cost-share for this. Even for dairy farmers and potato farmers, the cost is too high to do so on their own.
My plan is sheep. If I can clear land as my flock builds, they can graze around the stumps and browse the smaller brush down. I'll obviously sell the big wood and burn the slash, but ultimately the sheep will be an agriculture use for land that tractors cannot use...until the stumps are rotted enough to plow up. I'll slowly expand the fields and take back forest that use to be fields. It is a slow way to do so, but the cheapest way. Within 5 years I should add about 20 acres to this farm. By that time I can look at the woodlot and decide if agriculture or wood will be in my best interest. The way food is becoming scarce...I would say fields will be more beneficial then forest.
Unfortunately, I seem to be one of few people thinking this far ahead. I got plenty now, but I am concerned for my daughter. If there will be something for her and her husband...I got to start planning now. Will my plan work? Maybe not, but not planning will certainly ensure there is nothing left.