Most US cities as they exist today would not exist if you could not convert agricultural land to other uses. Where does suburbia come from? Former farms.
Fair point.. but most (almost all) US cities do not exist only because their owners wanted to go from farm-land —> city. They could not have existed with a local body of authority/government wanting that to happen and planning for it. The point I am trying to make is, yes the author owns the land and no one is taking away his ownership. However, owner is not the only party who gets a say in what happens with his land which is earmarked for agriculture. I know there are cities in the west where you cant even repaint your own houses without getting the permission from cities.There are local laws and zoning regulations as well you have to abide by which author seems to have conveniently left out.
