October 2012

New Jersey celebrates 200,000th acre preserved

BY DEBORAH BOWERS, Editor

This story updated 10-25-2012

“The preservation of 200,000 acres of farmland is an extraordinary achievement that underscores New Jersey’s continued reputation as a national leader in farmland preservation,” said Agriculture Secretary Douglas H. Fisher.

“This accomplishment would not have been possible without the strong commitment of all the farmland preservation partners – all levels of government, the nonprofit community, farm owners and the voters who have consistently supported farmland preservation funding.

Thanks to these cooperative efforts, New Jersey continues to move closer to the goal of ensuring that agriculture has an adequate land base for the future and that our farms remain an important part of the Garden State’s economy, our communities and our everyday lives for all time.”

Secretary Fisher made the announcement at Cassaday Farms in Upper Pittsgrove Township in Salem County in the southern part of New Jersey. He was joined by farmland preservation partners from across the state.

The New Jersey program is a comprehensive one, administering not only the purchase of agricultural easements, which are termed “sale of development easements,” but also the state’s right to farm law, the state Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) Bank, and a FarmLink program.

The state has authorized localities to operate TDR programs, but currently only two municipalities in Burlington County have had working programs. Chesterfield Township has a working receiving zone, while Lumberton Township’s TDR is currently inactive. The two townships have preserved more than 2,800 acres using TDR credit sales. Two other towns in Burlington County are developing TDR programs, according to Brian Wilson, manager of the Burlington County farmland preservation program.

The New Jersey program also has a fee simple program that purchases farms that have come on the market and later auctions them, with conservation easements attached, to bonafide farmers. That program, however, has been inactive for several years, with the last auctions conducted in 2010.

Hope Gruzlovic, SADC communications director, said the fee simple purchase of farms is labor intensive on staff time, involving not only fee purchase and easement processing, but also holding the properties until auctions can occur, and meanwhile handling leasing of the land.

“We’ve been focusing state acquisition efforts on easement acquisitions and de-emphasizing fee simple purchases,” she said.

The 11-member SADC board is supported by a staff of about 30.

RALLY 2012: Land trusts discuss FRPP challenges

BY TOM DANIELS, Senior Contributing Editor

Salt Lake City, UT –  October 2

Land Trust Rally, Session on the Farm and Ranchland Protection Program. 

The Panel: Cari Watkins-Bates of Scenic Hudson, Inc., based in Poughkeepsie, New York organized the session. Joining her were Brian Bourdages from the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy in Traverse City, Michigan and Erik Glenn from the Colorado Cattlemen’s Agricultural Land Trust in Arvada, Colorado.

Issues: Brian Bourdages raised the alarm that the conservation funding including FRPP may be at risk of major cuts if the Farm Bill is not passed in the upcoming November-December lame-duck session of Congress. The “fiscal sequestration” with across the board cuts in federal funding is due to kick in at the end of 2012.

Erik Glenn cautioned land trusts to do their due diligence up front on potential FRPP easement projects. In several cases, land trusts have submitted an FRPP application without knowledge about situations that jeopardized the project.

Cari Watkins-Bates emphasized the challenge land trusts often face in coming up with the 50 percent match to meet the maximum federal match of 50 percent of the easement price.  She noted the importance of partnerships to piece together the local match. A landowner can donate up to 25 percent of the easement value, but the other 25 percent must be in cash. Finally, Watkins-Bates pointed out the importance of submitting high ranking projects from a land trust’s applicant pool for FRPP funding.

Erik Glenn said that CCALT had partnered with the Trust for Public Land to secure the local match for FRPP projects. TPL provided the match to CCALT in the form of a loan that CCALT could use if it could not find other local funds. Fortunately, CCALT has been able to locate other sources for the local match, and has not actually had to borrow funds from TPL. Yet, the initial availability of TPL funds helped CCALT secure funding from other partners. 

The handouts at the session were especially helpful, but a bit daunting. I counted nearly 30 exhibits and documents required in an FRPP funding application. A draft of the 2011 FRPP regulations was also circulated. Erik Glenn spoke about the possibility of a working group to guide the FRPP regulations in the future.

Problems: Several members of the audience mentioned problems with appraisal reviews by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) that administers FRPP.  Some of the NRCS appraisers were from different parts of the country than the subject properties and were unfamiliar with the local agriculture and development pressures. Also, the NRCS has had difficulty in completing appraisal reviews in a timely fashion. Most appraisals are only good for 60 days once submitted to NRCS, and the NRCS reviews often take longer than 60 days, prompting one or more appraisal updates—which cost money. A yellow book appraisal is good for one year, though an update is required if the easement is a bargain sale.

A continuing problem is that NRCS has been understaffed. Brian Bourdages noted that the appraisal reviews have recently improved and thanked Mike Hubbs, acting head of the appraisal section, for adding staff. Hubbs admitted that his section still needs two or three more people.

The panelists agreed that it was important to talk with NRCS early and often over the course of an FRPP project.  At the same time, land trusts have to manage landowner expectations, especially about the timing of the easement closing as well as whether NRCS will accept the landowner’s application in the first place.

There was a strong consensus in the room that FRPP funding was very helpful. But after the session, a land trust veteran in farmland preservation made it clear to me that the FRPP process needs to be streamlined and the volume of paperwork reduced.

Finally, guess which state received the most FRPP funding from 2003 to 2011? Wyoming, at more than $80 million.