Increasingly, city-dwellers seeking view lots or large acreage have been fleeing the metropolitan areas to build larger and even luxurious homes in rural America, often opposite agricultural operations. Once they'd invested in constructing homes and settled into their new digs, they were awakened to the realities of country living, including the sights, smells and sounds of working farms... and they didn't like it. The offshoot was a plethora of nuisance suits that shut down family businesses to create a "more pleasant" neighborhood for the metro ex-pats. As a result, all states of the union subsequently adopted laws to protect farms and ranches from encroaching exurbanites--the urban refugees relocating in the hinterlands. What this exodus of city folk setting up housekeeping in the boondocks created was a land war between food producers and food consumers. New arrivals wanted to enjoy the beauty of the country without interference from farm or ranch operations whose presence preceded their arrival. Shortsightedness accompanied the transplant boom by restricting local farmers from, well, farming. The result of the pressures brought about closure and relocation of crops and livestock, costing families their livelihoods and legacies as well as increasing the cost of food. In the end, a few exurbanites got their dream homes but they paid for it in a higher cost of living by closing farms or chasing them down the road.

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