LAYTON -- From the turkey farms of Sanpete County to so-called truck farms of the Wasatch Front, dozens of farmers gathered here for their annual Conservation Field Day, Wednesday. Many attendees of the Utah Soil Conservation Commission event stayed in area hotels Tuesday night, after visiting Antelope Island and seeing buffalo and other attractions at the state park. And while the face of farming is changing, especially in Davis County, it is here to stay, the Clipper was told. Davis County folks on hand ranged from County Commissioner Dannie McConkie, who welcomed the group, to Ben Thurgood, chairman of the Davis Soil Conservation Dis-trict and Harris Adams, a district supervisor.

"I've been a supervisor for more than 40 years," said Adams of Layton, himself a lifelong farmer. Like many farmers in Davis County, he ran a farm while working full-time at First National Bank.

While Davis County is not the agricultural spot of even two or three decades ago, specialized farming is one way to help farmers stay in the business while growing a market.

As the session was getting underway early Wednesday, Ronald Francis, public affairs specialist, Natural Resources Conservation Service, and Jeff Williams, Great Salt Lake Re-source Conservation & Devel-opment Coordinator, which includes Davis County, met with this reporter.

Small and intensive fruit and vegetable farms are a growing way in Davis County to aid both farmers and residents, Francis said.

For example, John Borski's Kaysville operation, which covers about 10 acres, serves upwards of 300 "shareholders," Williams said.

Shareholders are households who pay up to a couple hundred dollars to receive produce for about 20 weeks. They pay farmers such as Borski "up front," giving the farmer much-needed capital prior to harvest -- eliminating a typical need to borrow early in the growing season, Williams said.

A one-half share could feed a household of one or two, a full share, a family of three or four people, with deliveries made to shareholders each week, Williams said.

"It's very empowering, to give farmers more control" over their financial security, he said.

"I think it will build momentum. It's not near capa-city," Williams said of so-called truck farms like Borski's.

For example, 20 such operations have quickly developed in Ogden Valley, Huntsville-Eden area, with "word of mouth" the primary way for such operations to grow, said Francis, a Syracuse resident.

"There's not much farming left in Davis County," said Leonard Blackham, Utah Com- missioner of Agriculture and Food.

The Moroni, Sanpete County, turkey farmer did not speak gloom and doom for the county when speaking to this reporter.

"There are a few, isolated farms that it appears can probably continue. They will be very specialized -- that's the trend" along the Wasatch Front, he said.

"Several land preservation methods are available, conservation easements, land development rights. It (farms in urban areas) will continue," said the former state legislator. "People like to have farms around, just like they enjoy trees."

"Agriculture in the state is (relatively) small, but it's stable, it's always there," Williams said.



tbusselberg@davisclipper.com