| Northampton, Massachusetts, June 16, 2008—Calling the potential failure to fund the state’s farmland protection program this year “penny wise and pound foolish,” American Farmland Trust (AFT) urged state lawmakers this week to include a $15 million bond referendum for farmland and open space conservation as part of the Fiscal Year 2009 state budget.
In a letter to members of the Rhode Island General Assembly, AFT noted that less than 20 percent of the state’s 45,800 acres of land in farms is permanently protected, and that the state’s shrinking base of farmland threatens the long-term viability of the state’s agricultural industry and its food production capacity.
Without a new bond, the state’s Purchase of Farmland Development Rights Program will be out of money. No funding will be available to purchase the development rights on the twenty farms now on the program’s waiting list. In addition, without state funding for farmland protection, Rhode Island will be unable to leverage millions of federal dollars through the federal Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program, and many millions more through local and private contributions.
“Since 1985, Rhode Island has leveraged state spending of $22.5 million on farmland protection with $28.6 million in federal, local and private contributions,” said Cris Coffin, AFT’s New England Director. “In the past five years alone, Rhode Island has received $8.8 million from the federal Farmland Protection Program—an average of $2.8 million a year.”
According to Coffin, the 2008 Farm Bill provides significant new funding for federal farmland protection efforts and extends a popular conservation tax deduction that will encourage landowners to sell the development rights to their farms at less than their fair market value. “Failure to fund the state program at a time when there is both additional federal matching funds and additional incentives for landowners to participate in the program seems penny wise and pound foolish,” wrote Coffin.
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American Farmland Trust is a national nonprofit organization working with communities and individuals to protect the best land, plan for agriculture and keep the land healthy. As the leading advocate for farm and ranch land conservation, AFT has ensured that more than a million acres stays bountiful and productive. AFT’s New England Office is in Northampton, MA,
and can be reached by calling 413-586-4593.
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