State Farmland Protection Programs

 

To protect its heritage of being one of the nation’s top producers of navy and black beans, pears and grapes, maple syrup, and cranberries Michigan has created Farmland Protection Programs under the Farmland and Open Space Preservation Act, the Federal government also insured the existence of the program under Section 388 of the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996. Michigan state also created other ways of implementing the program through the use of:

ü      Regulation: zoning, subdivision ordinances, comprehensive plans, urban growth boundaries, and agricultural districts

ü      Spending: on roads, schools, sewer and water facilities and utilities

ü      Taxation: income taxes, property taxes, and estate taxes (reducing these so that the farm owner is not forced to sell due to high taxes)

ü      Acquisition of interests in land: use of purchase of development rights program (PDR) or the purchase of agricultural conservation easement (PACE) program. These programs allow qualified farmers and landowners to sell their development rights to the state of Michigan, permanently protecting their land from development and compensate landowners for the development value of their land while permanently protecting the land for agriculture.

 

Eligibility for the program depends on the farm size and by income on the farm

ü      40 acres or more in size, and at least 51% of the land is in active agriculture.

ü      It is less than 40 acres in size but at least 5 acres in size, more than 51 % of the land is in active agriculture, and the agricultural land produces a gross annual income in excess of $200 per tillable acre.

ü      The farm has been designated as a specialty farm by the Michigan Department of Agriculture, is at least 15 acres in size, and has a gross annual income in excess of $2,000 per year.

 

Property owners apply with their local governing body for them to qualify. The governing body can be at the city or village level or the township level if the township has adopted its own zoning ordinance, or the county level for those townships which have not adopted a zoning ordinance. If the application is approved it is forwarded to the Department of Natural Resources, Farmland Preservation Office.

 

The program offers financial gains for the property owner the Michigan Department illustrates this as follows

 

If the owner has an income of $20,000 and property taxes on the farm total $2,000, he/she would subtract $700 (3.5% of $20,000) from the $2,000 property tax for an income tax credit of $1,300.  This tax credit is in addition to the Homestead Property Tax Credit, for which the landowner may already be qualified.

 

In 2001 the Michigan State Department was calling for more funds to enable it to run the program as the program was being overwhelmed with property owners wanting to join the program. The Department indicated that it needed funds to protect more than 300 farms on a waiting list for the state's purchase of development rights program (PDR) for the year 2002.

Working in conjunction with the America’s foremost conservation nonprofit, The Conservation Fund, the Michigan State Department has protected almost 8,500 acres of prime farmland.

 

Reference:

  1. Washtenaw Land Trust

http://www.washtenawlandtrust.org/municipal.htm

 

  1. American Farmland Trust

http://www.farmland.org/news_2001/053101_mi.htm   

 

  1. The Conservation Fund http://www.conservationfund.org/?article=2092&back=true 

 

  1. Farmland Protection Program

http://www.nhq.nrcs.usda.gov/CCS/FB96OPA/FPP-01.htm