OFFICE OF FARMLAND PRESERVATION

Since the Jamestown settlers planted their first crops 400 years ago, farming and forestry have been central to the spirit and success of the state. They have sustained the citizens of the Commonwealth by providing vital economic, industrial, environmental, aesthetic and social benefits.

Early in Virginia’s history, land devoted to farming and forestry covered most of the state. By 1960, only 13,500,000 of Virginia’s approximately 25 million acres remained in farmland. In 2005, the total was about 8,500,000 acres, a loss of five million acres of Virginia farmland in less than 50 years. Statistics tell a similar story for Virginia’s forests. In 2003, Virginia had 15.8 million acres of forestland which represents a decline of 180,600 acres since 1992.

Times have changed but the need for farm and forestlands and the businesses they support has not diminished. Recognizing the significance of the loss of agricultural land and forests and the negative impact it would have on the state, the 2001 Virginia General Assembly established the Office of Farmland Preservation within the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to help reverse the trend. The General Assembly charged the Office with four important missions:

• To work with other governmental and private organizations to help establish local purchase of development rights (PDR) programs by creating model policies and practices, establishing criteria to certify programs as eligible to receive funds from public sources, and determining methods and sources of funding for localities to purchase agricultural conservation easements
• To create programs to educate the public about the importance of farmland preservation
• To help farmers with farmland preservation efforts
• To administer the Virginia Farm Link program

Kevin Schmidt is the Coordinator of the Office of Farmland Preservation. For more information, please contact him at the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, 102 Governor Street, Richmond, VA 23219; by phone at 804.786.1346; Fax: 804.371.2945; or via e-mail at Kevin.Schmidt@vdacs.virginia.gov.

The following are some of the reasons why the Commonwealth is losing working farm and forest land.

• Farmers are getting older. The average age of farmers in Virginia is more than 56 years old. Since much of the farmer’s retirement assets are tied up in the business, these assets will increasingly be liquidated to provide for retirement.
• According to economists at Virginia Tech, it is expected that more than 70 percent of Virginia farmland and a significant percentage of the farm businesses will be transitioned over the next decade.
• There also is strong competition for working farm and forest land in Virginia. According to USDA’s National Resource Inventory (NRI), between 1992 and 1997, Virginia lost 23,260 acres per year of agricultural land to developed uses, and 44,640 acres per year of forest land to developed uses. Combined, this is almost 68,000 acres of working farm and forest land lost to developed uses per year during these five years.
• This fragmentation of the land base puts new pressures on farmers and foresters who now face a public that is increasingly divorced from agriculture, and who are not accustomed to the sights, sounds and smells associated with working farms and forests.

Here are a few of the reasons why localities across Virginia have decided to protect their working land.

• Farming and forestry combined are Virginia’s #1 industry ….400 years and counting.
• Well-managed farm and forest land also produce significant environmental benefits.
• Farm and forest land requires little or no public services. According to American Farmland Trust (AFT) as of August 2006, Cost of Community Service Studies (COCS) have been conducted in more than 125 communities across the county with similar results: Agricultural land generates more in taxes that it requires in services.
• Farm and forest land make significant contributions to local tourism, recreation opportunities and an area’s overall sense of place.

By providing matching funds for local PDR programs
The Office of Farmland Preservation is now accepting applications from localities interested in receiving state matching funds for their PDR programs. Please note that while $500,000 was originally allocated for FY 2009 for this program, the current fiscal situation facing the Commonwealth will likely result in reductions in the Biennium budget. As a result, the actual amount available in state matching funds may be less than originally allocated.

Deadlines for the FY 2009 applications are as follows:

• October 17, 2008 - Deadline for submitting certification of local matching funds
• FY 2009 Fiscal Certification Form

• October 17, 2008 - Deadline for submitting application to certify programs
• FY 2009 Program Certification Form

Press Releases:
September 5, 2008
State Announces October 17 Deadline for Farmland Preservation Matching Funds Application

July 10, 2008
Governor Kaine Celebrates First Farm Protected By State Funds for Purchase of Development Rights

February 26, 2008
Governor Kaine Announces $4.25 Million in Farmland Preservation Grants

June 18, 2007
Deadlines Approaching For State Farmland Preservation Matching Funds

By providing technical assistance on developing a local PDR program
The Virginia Farmland Preservation Task Force, established by the VDACS Commissioner, developed a model PDR program outline for the Commonwealth and its localities. A Model Purchase of Development Rights (PDR) Program for Virginia outlines the program elements that each local PDR program should address, and makes recommendations for maximizing the success of these local programs in Virginia.

Currently, 21 local governments have established a local PDR program (click here for an updated map of local PDR programs). The Office of Farmland Preservation is in the process of collecting the ordinances and related documents for these programs and will make them available online as soon as possible.

Localities interested in developing a PDR program may want to consider attending the next meeting of the local PDR administrators group. The following are the upcoming dates for 2008:

September 24, 2008
December 05, 2008

The PDR managers also host an online discussion group. Click here to sign up for the PDR Managers Google Group.

For more information, please contact Jenny McPherson, Agricultural Reserve Program Coordinator, City of Virginia Beach Department of Agriculture at 757.385.8637 or jsmcpher@vbgov.com.

By providing additional information
Annual Report for Office of Farmland Preservation
Each year, the Office of Farmland Preservation is required to submit a written report on the operations of the office to the chairmen of the House Committee on Agriculture and the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources. Please see below for annual reports that have been released:
* 2007 annual report
* 2006 annual report
* 2005 annual report
* 2004 annual report

Agricultural and Forestal Districts
Under the Code of Virginia, localities are authorized to adopt districts designed to protect working farm and forest land.  These agricultural and forestal districts are voluntary agreements between landowners and the locality, and offer benefits to landowners that agree to keep their land in its current use for a period of 4 to 10 years. Localities are required by the Code of Virginia to provide the Commissioner of VDACS with a copy of the ordinance for new agricultural and forestal districts, and any changes that are made to these districts. Please click here to see an updated list of local districts and the acres held in these districts across Virginia.

Use Value Assessment
Under the Code of Virginia, localities are allowed to assess land that meets certain eligibility requirements at its current use value and not at its fair market value when determining local property taxes. The four categories for use value assessment are agricultural, horticultural, forestry and open space. Suggested tax rates for each of these categories are provided to localities by the State Land Evaluation and Advisory Council (SLEAC), of which VDACS is a member. For more information on the use value assessment program and SLEAC, please click here.

Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) Programs
Under the Code of Virginia localities are authorized to establish programs that transfer the development rights from a “sending” property (property that the locality is trying to protect) to one or more “receiving” properties. While this allowance was established in 2006, no locality has enacted a TDR program to date. Recognizing this, the 2008 General Assembly agreed to establish a joint legislative subcommittee to examine the transfer of development rights, and ways to make these programs more appealing to localities. Please click here for more information.

Virginia Resources Authority (VRA)
Virginia Resources Authority (VRA) has the ability to provide cost-effective financing to localities for cost associated with the purchase of the acquisition of rights or interests in land for conservation or preservation purposes, including interest and principal payments pursuant to any installment purchase agreement. Since its creation by the General Assembly in 1984, VRA has supported over 700 projects totaling more than $2.6 billion of investment in Virginia’s communities. For further information, visit VRA’s Web site.

Please check back for more information soon…….. Our goal is to have this site serve as the clearinghouse on state and local farmland preservation information.

The Virginia Farm Link program is designed to help two important segments of the Commonwealth’s farm community:

• Farmers and landowners who are facing retirement and want to see their businesses continue and their land stay in production; and
• Beginning and aspiring farmers who are in search of business arrangements through which they can acquire land, equipment, experience and access to the knowledge of seasoned producers.

As established in § 3.2-202 of the Code of Virginia, the Virginia Farm Link program shall provide, but not be limited to the following: (i) assistance in the preparation of business plans for the transition of business interests; (ii) assistance in the facilitation of transfers of existing properties and agricultural operations to interested buyers; (iii) information on innovative farming methods and techniques; and (iv) research assistance on agricultural, financial, marketing, and other matters.

The absence of program funding in previous years precluded the development of many of the components of the Farm Link program.  In 2003, the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) worked with the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation to develop an online database designed to bring those landowners interested in passing the land on to the next generation together with those interested in gaining access to farmland and farming operations in Virginia.  Farm Bureau agreed to host the online database until such time that VDACS was able to take back the operation of the database. 

We are pleased to announce that as of May 15, 2008, the Farm Link database has been moved from Farm Bureau back to VDACS and is once again available for use. As part of this transition, VDACS has also taken the opportunity to revise the database functions and has changed the application process to make it much easier for farm seekers and farm owners to complete and to update.

In addition to the online database, additional activity and assistance from the Virginia Farm Link program is planned for later this year, including a series of farm transition workshops for landowners across the state. Please check back here for more information as it becomes available.

Please visit www.vafarmlink.org to learn more about the online database. You may also contact the Virginia Farm Link program at 804.786.1346 or via e-mail at farmlinkadmin@vdacs.virginia.gov

During the period January through March 2002, the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) Office of Farmland Preservation (OFP) sponsored a survey of Virginia farmers, with the intent of determining how many Virginia farmers had plans for the transition of their farm businesses to the next generation of farmers. This survey was part of a larger strategy adopted by the National Farm Transition Network (NFTN) to develop conclusions about the state of farm retirement planning in the United States, Europe and Japan. The survey mechanism used for this study mirrored those used across the United States and in other countries as part of the larger NFTN initiative. The goal of these efforts was to create an international database on farm succession planning from which policy recommendations could be developed to increase opportunities for successful farm business transition.

This survey shows that most Virginia farmers either do not plan to retire at all or only plan semi-retirement. Of those farmers who plan to retire and transition their farm, only 30 percent have as yet identified a successor. Finally, 36 percent of Virginia farmers have said they do not have a will, trust or other estate plan to transition this farm to their heirs or to a young farmer outside their family.

Please click here to see more information about this survey.

In addition to the local farmland preservation programs outlined above there also are additional options for landowners interested in either selling or donating a conservation easement on their property.

Please visit the following for more information on conservation easements and state agencies/non-profit organizations that accept easements:
Agricultural Conservation Easements, Farmland Information Center, American Farmland Trust

DCR's Office of Land Conservation

Landowner Considerations in Selling Development Rights or Donating Conservation Easements, Jesse J. Richardson, Jr. and Leon Geyer

Virginia Outdoors Foundation

With Your Very Own Agricultural License Plate!

Be the first on your block to show your support for the preservation of Virginia’s working farm and forest land! Not only does the “Farming Since 1614” license plate look great, but $15 of the annual $25 fee per plate goes to the Office of Farmland Preservation to help us in our efforts to preserve agriculture for the future. For more information, please click here.

For additional farmland preservation information and technical assistance for Virginia please contact Kevin Schmidt at the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, 102 Governor Street, Richmond, VA 23219; by phone at 804.786.1346; Fax: 804.371.2945; or via e-mail at Kevin.Schmidt@vdacs.virginia.gov.

For additional farmland preservation information and technical assistance from around the country, please visit the Farmland Information Center, a partnership of USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and American Farmland Trust (AFT) by clicking here.

September 5, 2008
State Announces October 17 Deadline for Farmland Preservation Matching Funds Application

July 10, 2008
Governor Kaine Celebrates First Farm Protected By State Funds for Purchase of Development Rights

February 26, 2008
Governor Kaine Announces $4.25 Million in Farmland Preservation Grants

June 18, 2007
Deadlines Approaching For State Farmland Preservation Matching Funds