Workshop focuses on ways to protect farmland

The debate boiled down to dollars and cents for Boone County Presiding Commissioner Keith Schnarre when asked Tuesday night what stood in the way of the county purchasing development rights from rural landowners.

The Boone County Smart Growth Coalition sponsored the American Farmland Trust Workshop to explain the options available to Boone County farmers and ranchers interested in keeping their land but who are increasingly feeling pressured by development in rural areas of the county.

A number of options were presented, but the most talked-about was the selling of development rights. If the county is interested in purchasing development rights, it would have several options, including bonds, additional taxes or budget allocations.

“We have no funds available for this purpose,” Schnarre said, which means the county would have to look at bonds or taxes to fund a program.

“I think a progressive county like this would be willing to move forward with an issue such as this,” said Bob Broz of MU Extension.

“I would say it has a lot of advantages and benefits if we can just move forward,” Broz said. The coalition paid $2,500 to bring in Bob Wagner of the American Farmland Trust, a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit group dedicated to helping preserve farmland, to lead the two-session workshop.

More than 45 people attended the workshop, which was held in the County Commission chambers. Sustainable Farms and Communities and the Greenbelt Land Trust of Mid-Missouri also helped sponsor the event.

Wagner discussed a number of other techniques available to landowners, including the transfer of development rights, right-to-farm laws and agricultural districts. Wagner said selling development rights is one of the most popular programs, especially on the East Coast.

“The important thing in America today is to plan for agriculture, not around it,” Wagner said.

With more people who are not accustomed to farming practices moving from the city to the country, right-to-farm laws have been enacted to provide some protection for farmers against law suits by unhappy neighbors. Agricultural districts, meanwhile, have been helpful in providing a group of owners more land protection than they had individually.

The transfer of development rights allows landowners to sell the right to develop their land to someone who wants to develop another piece of property. By doing so, counties are able to protect sensitive areas while allowing developers to pay market prices to develop property.

Norman Lenhardt, who farms soybeans on 170 acres in southern Boone County, said he liked the idea of selling development rights and had been researching the concept before coming to the workshop. He said that he intends to pass his farm onto his children.

If a farmer or rancher intends to sell the farm for retirement purposes instead of passing it along in the family, the value of the land is greatly decreased without the development rights attached to the deed.

“If we don’t protect the farm land, we are going to have a very reduced standard of living,” Lenhardt said.