Farmland Preservation
The 2000 Appropriation Act provided funding to the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) for establishing the Virginia Agricultural Vitality Program. The 2001 Session of the Virginia General Assembly added § 3.1-18.9 through § 3.1-18.12 to the Code of Virginia, which continued the Virginia Agricultural Vitality Program as the Office of Farmland Preservation (OFP). The powers and duties of the new OFP are parallel to the responsibilities of the Virginia Agricultural Vitality Program. Section 3.1-18.12 of the Code of Virginia also requires that the Commissioner submit a written report on the operation of OFP to the chairmen of the House Committee on Agriculture and the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources by December 1 of each year.
The following are the specific powers and duties of OFP, as established in § 3.1-18.9 of the Code of Virginia:
- To develop, in cooperation with the Department of Business Assistance, the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation, the American Farmland Trust, the Virginia Land Conservation Foundation, the Virginia Outdoors Foundation, the Virginia Association of Counties, and the Virginia Cooperative Extension, (i) model policies and practices that may be used as a guide to establish local purchase of development rights programs; (ii) criteria for the certification of local purchase of development rights programs as eligible to receive grants, loans or other funds from public sources; and (iii) methods and sources of revenue for allocating funds to localities to purchase agricultural conservation easements;
- To create programs to educate the public about the importance of farmland preservation to the quality of life in the Commonwealth;
- To provide technical, professional, and other assistance to farmers on matters related to farmland preservation; and
- To administer the Virginia Farm Link program established pursuant to § 3.1-18.11.
By establishing the Virginia Agricultural Vitality Program, and subsequently OFP, the General Assembly was attempting to address two issues that threaten the future viability of the Virginia agricultural sector. The first of these challenges is the aging farm population and the difficulty young farmers have when entering the profession. Statistics describing this problem are quite dramatic. The average Virginia farmer is 56 years of age. According to economists at Virginia Tech, more than 70 percent of Virginia farmland and a significant percentage of Virginia’s farm businesses are expected to be transitioned over the next 15 years from the current generation of farmers to either a new generation of farm businesses or to other businesses seeking to develop farmland for non-agricultural purposes.
The second challenge relates to the rapid loss of farm and forest land to developed uses in Virginia. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Resource Inventory, 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.
FarmLink Program Database Now Available
The purpose of the Virginia FarmLink program, as established in § 3.1-18.11 of the Code of Virginia, is to provide assistance to retiring farmers and individuals seeking to become active farmers through the process of transitioning farm business and properties. In 2003, VDACS and the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation developed an online database to connect farm owners and farm seekers. In May 2008, the FarmLink database was transferred back to VDACS. Individuals can register on the database as a farm owner or a farm seeker in order to find potential farm transition opportunities. To learn more information about registering on the site as a farm owner or a farm seeker visit the Farm Link website.
First Round of PDR Funding Distributed
The Office of Farmland Preservation recently distributed $4,250,002 dollars for fiscal year 2008 to provide matching funds to fourteen Virginia localities for their local Purchase of Development Rights (PDR) programs. PDR programs serve as a tool to preserve farmland by compensating landowners who voluntarily place perpetual conservation easements on their properties. Currently, twenty-one local PDR programs exist in Virginia. The distributed state funding matched local funding up to $403,220 per locality. Eight localities received $403,220 each: The counties of Albemarle, Clark, Fauquier, Goochland, Isle of Wight, and James City plus the cities of Chesapeake and Virginia Beach. Stafford County received $299,242; Frederick County $265,000; Rappahannock $165,000; New Kent County $150,000; Cumberland County $100,000; and Northampton County $45,000. Localities interested in future rounds of grant applications for PDR matching funds should contact the Office of Farmland Preservation.