Working lands - Initiative calls for protection of state’s farms, forests
By LeAnn R. Ralph, Reporter
Monday, March 5, 2007 9:56 AM CST
An agricultural preservation plan should be part of every land use plan.
That was one of the messages from Keith Foye of the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection during a break-out session on the Wisconsin Working Lands Initiative at the Growing Wisconsin workshop last Monday.
The Wisconsin Working Lands Initiative steering committee was formed in July of 2005 and issued a report in August of 2006.
The committee was made up of 26 Wisconsin residents from agriculture, local government, forestry, private business, the University of Wisconsin and nonprofit organizations.
According to the report, the state lost one-third of its farmland from 1950 until the 1990s, going from 24 million acres down to 16 million acres.
The Farmland Preservation Program began in Wisconsin in 1978 and included three goals: to preserve farmland, to provide property tax relief for farmers and to conserve soil and water.
“If we are protecting the land, we should preserve it through conservation efforts,” he said.
Approximately 7,000 farmland preservation agreements are in place right now, ranging from 10 to 25 years in length. Foye noted that at the peak of the program, 9,500 farmland preservation agreements were in place.
The Farmland Preservation Program has had few changes made to it since 1978.
During the 1980s, the amount of tax credits available to farmers statewide was $35 million. Today, tax credits available statewide are down to $12 million.
“If we are serious about preserving our working lands, we need something behind it,” Foye said.
The average tax credit available to participants currently is $650; in years past, credits averaged $1,500.
Threats
The Wisconsin Working Lands Initiative has identified a number of threats to Wisconsin’s farmland:
Importing agricultural products from overseas.
Breaking up farmland to build houses in rural subdivisions.
Creating zoning classifications and minimum lot sizes in rural areas that encourage people to build houses on farmland.
Breaking up forest land into smaller parcels for recreational and other uses.
Rising land prices.
Declining economic infrastructure for agriculture and forestry (for example, farmers must drive greater distances to buy parts for machinery).
Other factors that are threatening Wisconsin’s farmland include a steady increase in population and a rise in the average age of the people who are working in agriculture and forestry.
Many of those who are working in agriculture and forestry will be retiring in the not-too-distant future, Foye noted.
Call to action
The Wisconsin Working Lands Initiative has made the following recommendations to protect working lands:
Update the existing Farmland Preservation Program to improve agricultural planning and zoning, increase tax credits and improve flexibility for local governments to administer the program.
Create a new Working Lands Enterprise Areas program to encourage the clustering of active farms and to slow farmland conversion to other uses.
Create a new state Purchase of Development Rights grant program to permanently preserve selected properties.
Create a beginning farmer and logger program to recruit and train the next generation of farmers and loggers.
Support Wisconsin Professional Loggers Association’s programs.
Promote opportunities to increase housing density in rural subdivisions to reduce the loss of working lands.
Improve statewide priorities and provide assistance to local governments.
Create an education and outreach program to help local governments and increase public understanding and support.
Create a new public/private organization to promote agriculture and to strengthen the state’s existing programs that offer grants and technical assistance.
Endorse state Department of Natural Resources programs that address forestry and public lands issues, including the Forest Legacy Program and Managed Forest Law, Healthy Forests Initiative and the Land Legacy Program.
Worth saving
“This is not something that will happen overnight. And it is not going to be easy,” Foye said.
Wisconsin’s agriculture and forestry industry contribute more than $51 billion a year to the state economy and that’s worth saving, he said. |
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