BOISE, Idaho — Matt Wissel grows vegetables and melons on about 80 acres in Nampa, just as his father and grandfather did. He runs his family’s farm, Wissel Farms, with his wife, Benita.
He’s watched as acre after acre of farmland has given way to houses. If residential developments and big-box stores keep taking over farmland in Canyon County, Wissel says, there won’t be much agriculture left.
The average price of seven Nampa farmland-only properties listed for sale at the start of August on landsearch.com topped $63,000 per acre. But Wissel says that even in rural Parma, farmland that’s not geared for development sells for about $11,000 an acre, too pricey for farming.
“There’s no way you could pay for that by growing any kind of commodity,” he said.