Thursday morning, I have the honor of moderating a powerful and thoughtful group of panelists as part of Thrive Regional Network's Tri-State Summit.

Brooks Lamb will be there. Kelsey Keener. Lori Bell. Jess Wilson.

Our topic? Regional farmland loss.

The panelists will tell stories, offer real-time solutions, encourage officials and challenge a slow-footed, destructive status-quo. It'll be honest, sobering and hard-hitting, just like the following sentence:

We have nine years of cropland remaining in Hamilton County.

Over the past few months, Food as a Verb has been reporting on our agrarian crisis -- the declining rates of farmland, cropland and pastureland. Our friend Luke Iverson, Director of Conversation Impact with Land Trust for Tennessee, provided these figures not long ago.

Given this rate, how many years of cropland do we have left?

"If we assume the same average rate, we're down to nine years left before cropland in Hamilton County is completely gone," he said.

For the past 21 years, Hamilton County has averaged:

• 242 acres of lost farmland per year.

• 114 acres of cropland lost per year.
• 128 acres of pasture and hay lost per year.

"The cropland is clearly active food-producing land, and is also almost gone," Luke said. "114 acres lost per year indicates that if we continue at that current rate, we've only got 11 years left. And again, that's using the 2022 data. So if we assume the same average rate, we're down to nine years left before cropland in Hamilton County is completely gone."

Nine years.

Yes, Luke knows full well that the rate of development isn't static. However, if we continue to "develop" - what a poor word - at the current rate, all Hamilton County's active food-producing cropland will be gone by 2033.

Please: elected officials, media friends, foundation leaders ... pay attention to this.

As the title of our Thrive panel clearly states: When it's gone ... it's gone.

If you can't make the panel, we'll report back soon. Plus, you can listen to Brooks Lamb on Scenic Roots. He and I visited with the incomparably talented Ray Bassett not long ago.

In the coming days, we will continue to report on our agrarian crisis. Feel free to encourage elected leaders, other reporters, nonprofits, churches, anyone to get involved -- the crisis of farmland loss one of the most underreported stories in the region and state.

• Our good friends at Mac's Kitchen & Bar are entering that liminal space between saying goodbye to something beloved and being received by something new.

Mac's is closing.

But, Brian McDonald and Jess Revels will surely open a restaurant again. Where? When? We can't imagine Chattanooga (or Rossville, Georgia) without them.

A few days ago, Brian - he was one of our first Food as a Verb features - posted some heavy news:

“Goodnight Restaurant” is what we whisper as we pull out of the parking lot every night.

Me and Jess sat on her porch and talked about doing this back in 2018 over glasses of wine. We talked about farmers, about getting back to people, about how much we loved this.

We hustled and pursued it relentlessly from pop-up to one of the best restaurants the city has to offer, and it’s thanks to you.

We altered our course and stepped into an area of town that needed us. We fell in love with this building, this town, what we created here.

This part of town deserves to be a destination, as it used to be. But it was too soon.

Along with all of you, the last few years have been full of challenges. Rising rents, utilities, and interest rates.

We too have felt those effects, we too cut it close most months.

We put everything we had, life savings, heart, sweat, blood, and tears into this place. And we gained a lifetime of memories we will truly never forget, and that’s thanks to you.

We simply can’t thank you enough for all the growing support and love you have given us, it means more than you know.

Mac’s has been everything.

It was Mac’s parent’s dream, and he fulfilled that dream. He and his father shared a beer in his last days at the bar, and his mom got to dance the night away and watch her son be a finalist for Best Chef this year.

His daughter got to see that every dream is possible, you just have to work for it.

Jess got to show her mother and grandparents who grew up just streets away, that all the dedication to this industry can pay off. And it meant everything to do it here.

It meant just as much as when we got to wipe the sweat off our faces on the line, escape the kitchen, and drop a dish at our table on a busy summer night.

Every guest meant everything to us. Every ingredient, person along the way, and moment was everything to us.

Our last service will be New Year's Eve, every day until then is a celebration of what we have all created together.

Join us in raising a glass in celebrating all we've created together every night till then!

This isn’t a final goodbye, this is a see you later.

Goodnight Restaurant.

For so many in this city, Brian and Jess have been local food heroes: huge-hearted and committed to menus that are thoughtfully creative and nearly all-locally sourced.  

Why would any building owner not want them as restaurant, tenant and chef?

So often, this city punches above its weight. Yet, it can also stay limp when it needs to flex. Why is one of our city's best restaurants now homeless?

Goodnight Mac's ... we'll see you again soon.

Story ideas, questions, feedback? Interested in partnering with us? Email: david@foodasaverb.com

This story is 100% human generated; no AI chatbot was used in the creation of this content.