Land Use

Traveling around I am always intrigued with how we use the land.  This image was taken in upstate N.Y.  in the Finger Lakes region.  Most of these farms are owned and operated by Amish or Mennonite families.  Certainly the power lines are needed in this rural community to supply power to the region but quite a few of these farms operate without electric, especially if they are Amish owned.  I made my living constructing and engineering power lines in this region, and respected the relationship between the need to supply power to a community and honoring a lifestyle that rejected the use for electric.  Many of these lines were constructed back when bringing electric to the rural area was welcomed and the placement of the poles and wires were not much of a concern.  Today these lines and usually located along the roadways and not placed in the farm fields as these lines are.