The Brambles and Briers of Farm Land Protection

As an adjunct to my duties as County Commissioner, I sit as a non-voting member on the Farm Land Protection Board. The Board receives its funding from a portion of the transfer tax imposed on all deeds recorded at the Court House. The mission of the Board is to preserve farm land by the purchase of development rights from land owners so that farm land will not be developed in the future. Once purchased, these rights can not be retrieved. Applications, submitted by land owners, are reviewed by the Board which considers a variety of criteria such as soil quality, location, existing development etc. Also, Board members go to each farm and view it personally. The Board then makes an offer for farm land having the highest rank by computing the various criteria. Limited Federal matching funds are available to aide in the purchase of farm land having the best soil quality. The County Commission ultimately may accept or reject any proposed purchase.

I believe the preservation of farm land is vital to our county, however, I see various problems confronting the Farm Land Protection program:

1. There is simply not enough money to purchase development rights to all suitable farm land.
2. The Farm Land Protection Board should not be caught up in bidding wars with real estate developers. It is a serious strategy miscalculation to compete with the desire for money with money itself.
3. Once development rights are purchased, succeeding generations may become limited in their ability to use the land of their parents. Having farm land does not necessarily mean we will have farms in the future. Generations to come, facing higher and higher inflation pressures and lower farm incomes could find themselves unable to afford to farm yet unable to sell their land. I don't think an abandoned field full of brambles and briers is any longer a farm.
4. Farms are more than economic machines competing with developers for dollars. Farms are more than scenic backdrops for tourist visitors. Farming is a vital source of American strength and overall national health. If we lose too much farm land, America will quickly be at the mercy of countries like Mexico and Argentina for its food supply, much as we are now dependent on foreign sources of oil. Farm land and farming also represent strong American traditions of self-esteem and self-reliance.

A strong thread of farms tie our county together and preserve our continuity and community identity. If you visit Lewisburg, you will quickly see the beginnings of the slums of commerce; the walmarting of American individuality. A colorless carpet of collective haphazard growth suffocating the personality and quiet presence of historic Lewisburg. I believe that one of the enduring human hopes, which is universally felt but not officially recognized, is the desire to return home or to grow old in a place you still recognize. A community that still fosters families and traditions and is still there for your children to relish as you did. A community which is still alive.

From the point of view of value, preserved farm land creates a community equity; a bank of constant value. Farms and the clean air and water and traditions and work ethics that sustain them are an account in the name of the entire community with a public value that remains constant. Development and speculation can take from this account of public equity and covert it into private wealth; never to return it back to the community account. The speculators build expensive mountain top homes with spectacular views that often spoil the view of others.

Farm land protection is in real part about community and heritage protection. It is about how we, as a community, value things like proper solid waste management so that our streams and valleys do not choke with trash. It is about the reasonable use of our natural resources. It is about a healthy community with lasting traditions. We can not out bid progress. We can not out bid developers. We will always be bought if we set a price in dollars.