Technology has given small farms like mine new ways to survive, but it also requires land, power and infrastructure. As development reaches farther into rural America, how do we make room for progress without losing the farmland we still need?

Mountain land has always been valuable to somebody. After watching how quickly Western North Carolina has changed, I’ve started thinking differently about what it means to own a piece of it, what we trade away for money, and what we have a responsibility to leave behind.