Utah farmers agonize about selling land to developers

West Haven, Utah • As Utah’s population booms, some farmers in Weber County are making the tough but sometimes lucrative decision to sell their land as small family plots give way to homes.

The loss of open farmland has led to nostalgia for people connected to the county's agricultural heritage and disappointment for people who moved to the county because of its open, rural feel.

The chance for struggling farmers to sell land for good prices to developers has given some farmers the opportunity to comfortably retire.

Farmer Phil Green recently sold 56 acres (23 hectares) of land his family used for a dairy farm and to grow hay and corn. Today, 100 new houses fill land that used to be a wide…