Virginia should look to Vermont for insight into effective ways to draw farmers into conservation programs. I own a 74 acre horse farm in Boones Mill, and have looked into the programs that Virginia offers. It’s hardly worth the effort to work through the program given the relatively small dollar amount offered. In Vermont, the Vermont Land Trust purchases the development rights on farm parcels in perpetuity. So, an appraisal of the value of the land determines what per acre value the development rights have on a parcel. This is a real incentive. It can not only protect farmland it can protect farmers as well. For example, my father in-law, who at the time owned a 600 acre dairy farm in the Champlain Valley of Vermont, sold the farmland’s development rights to the Vermont Land Trust in 1989. He received something like $189,000 – enough to convert from dairy to a more diversified farm including All Natural turkeys for Thanksgiving and Christmas. They were able to convert barns and built a small processing plant. Today, 17 years later, that farm is still going strong. It’s now 1,000 acres, and in addition to being the largest turkey farm in Vermont (23,000 turkeys raised last season) they board 500 replacement heifers for a local dairy farmer.
Here in Franklin County, farmland is selling for well over 10,000 an acre now and prices according to the local realtors I know are increasing at 20% a year! When a developer knocks on a farmer’s door and offers $375,000 for 40 acres then that’s just too tempting for many soon to be retiring farmers.
Virginia should look to Vermont for insight into effective ways to draw farmers into conservation programs. I own a 74 acre horse farm in Boones Mill, and have looked into the programs that Virginia offers. It’s hardly worth the effort to work through the program given the relatively small dollar amount offered. In Vermont, the Vermont Land Trust purchases the development rights on farm parcels in perpetuity. So, an appraisal of the value of the land determines what per acre value the development rights have on a parcel. This is a real incentive. It can not only protect farmland it can protect farmers as well. For example, my father in-law, who at the time owned a 600 acre dairy farm in the Champlain Valley of Vermont, sold the farmland’s development rights to the Vermont Land Trust in 1989. He received something like $189,000 – enough to convert from dairy to a more diversified farm including All Natural turkeys for Thanksgiving and Christmas. They were able to convert barns and built a small processing plant. Today, 17 years later, that farm is still going strong. It’s now 1,000 acres, and in addition to being the largest turkey farm in Vermont (23,000 turkeys raised last season) they board 500 replacement heifers for a local dairy farmer.
Here in Franklin County, farmland is selling for well over 10,000 an acre now and prices according to the local realtors I know are increasing at 20% a year! When a developer knocks on a farmer’s door and offers $375,000 for 40 acres then that’s just too tempting for many soon to be retiring farmers.
Sean