Farmland preservation rose to a close second on Tilth Producers’ 2014 policy priority survey. Why is this issue so important and what can we do about it? Here is an overview of farmland preservation policy basics.
How much farmland is being lost?
- Washington State lost about 680,000 acres of land between 1997 and 2007.[1]
- In 1950, Puget Sound had 4 million acres of farmland. By 2007, 58% of this had been developed, about 14,000 acres a year, leaving the Puget Sound with only 600,000 acres remaining.[2]
- About 1,500,000 acres of farmland were lost per year in the United States between 2002 and 2007 due to development.[3]
Why is it being lost?
- Prime farmland is being bought out for development. For example, last summer, the 12-acre McBride farm in Issaquah was sold to a developer for $4.5 million in order to build 40 single-family homes.
- The conversion rate of farmland to urban or developed lands tends to exceed population growth rate; the US population grew by 30% between 1982 and 2007, while developed land increased by 57%, nearly twice as much.[5] From 1945 to 2002, developed land in Washington State quadrupled while population growth rate only doubled.[6] Puget Sound anticipates the need to accommodate more than 1.5 million new people over the next ten years, resulting in transferring development rights of farmland from agricultural purposes to urban development.[7]
- Suburban areas occupy high amounts of potential farmland with low-density housing and large-lot development.[8]
Low-profit farms are at higher risk to sell their land for development purposes. [9]
What government programs are saving farmland?
- In July 2013, Washington State approved an additional $64 million for Washington State Wildlife and Recreation Program (WWRP) which, in part, funds Washington State’s Farmland Preservation Grant program to allow counties and cities to purchase development rights to preserve farmland for future use.[10]
- The draft 2015 budget allocates $257,000 to farmland preservation.[11]
- The King County Agriculture Program and its subset, the King County Agriculture Commission, work towards preserving agriculture by protecting water resources and preserving prime farmland.[12]
- In Washington State, rural properties are eligible for either a tax exemption or deferral if the property is used for farming purposes. Tax exemption permits the individual to pay tax on the land’s value based on its agricultural use rather than its highest potential use.[13]
- Pierce County Agricultural Roundtable and American Farmland Trust host workshops for city planners to promote and support land use for farmers.
What other policy solutions could address farmland loss in Washington?
- Farmland mitigation programs protect farmland by preserving an equivalent amount of farm acreage when farmland is being converted for other uses.[14]
- Increasing farmland under agricultural zoning
- Increasing minimum agricultural parcel size (to make farmland parcels less attractive to rural estate shoppers)
- Narrowing the non-agricultural allowable uses in agricultural zoning
- Purchasing development rights for farmland parcels
- Providing property tax exemption on all qualifying farmland (tax at agricultural, not market, value)[15]
How are different organizations acting on this problem?
• Agricultural land trusts are nonprofit organizations that preserve potential farmland for the community by promising it’ll be used for farming. Some examples of agricultural land trusts include the South of the Sound Community Farmland Trust, PCC Farmland Trust, and the Methow Conservancy.
• Skagitonians to Preserve Farmland, American Farmland Trust, Tilth Producers of Washington, and many other organizations use grassroots advocacy to address farmland loss.
What can we do as a community?
- Support organizations working to preserve farmland
- Consider becoming a farmer
- Support organizations that help beginning farmers succeed
- Advocate for the above policy solutions
- Talk to your friends and neighbors about the importance of protecting farmland
- Buy from local farmers throughout the year!
“Farmland loss is not just about land. It’s about farmers, still a major workforce and the glue that holds rural communities together. It’s about the environment: and the habitat, water quality, aquifer recharge, and flood protection benefits of floodplain farms. And it’s about healthy local food grown sustainability by farmers we know. There is too much at stake to allow farmland to continue to fall through the cracks.”
–Losing Ground, American Farmland Trust
[1] http://agr.wa.gov/fof/docs/LandStats.pdf
[2] Losing Ground
[3] http://www.farmland.org/resources/fote/
[4] http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/a-family-says-goodbye-to-the-last-of-the-issaquah-farms/
[5] http://www.farmland.org/resources/fote/
[6] http://www.ers.usda.gov/media/249911/eib14fm_1_.pdf
[7] http://www.psrc.org/assets/9908/TDRReport.pdf
[8] 8 Drake J. Agric. L. 597 (2003) Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program: An Analysis of the Federal Policy on United States Farmland Loss, The; Eitel, Michael R.
[9] 8 Drake J. Agric. L. 597 (2003) Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program: An Analysis of the Federal Policy on United States Farmland Loss, The; Eitel, Michael R.
[10] http://www.farmland.org/programs/states/WA/
[11] http://leap.leg.wa.gov/leap/archives/index_budgetsp.asp
[12] http://www.kingcounty.gov/environment/wlr/sections-programs/rural-regional-services-section/agriculture-program.aspx
[13] http://www.co.washington.or.us/AssessmentTaxation/ExemptionsDeferrals/farm-and-forest-land-deferrals.cfm
[14] http://www.mrsc.org/subjects/planning/farmland.aspx#mitigation
[15] http://www.farmland.org/documents/AFTLosingGroundReportWeb.pdf