He noted, however, that the management of natural resources will fail if the farm economy is not improved. The other panelists agreed that it is important to preserve our natural resources, but the viewpoints on how to accomplish this varied. Preventing problems through alternative farming methods, paying farmers more for their products so they can afford to be environmentally friendly and devising goal-oriented regulations rather than prescriptive ones were the most salient suggestions. The final panel produced a lively debate over farmland conversion. You can't improve it.
Agricultural land is the primary use of the land and ought to be treated as such.
John Kassner of the Wisconsin Builder's Association disagreed. If there's a house here, the place for a new house is next door. Even if the land to be developed is prime farmland, it's next to go. In addition, Kassner stated that planners try to force people to live in the city while simultaneously ignoring market forces. The roundtable discussions were truly the highlight of the conference.