RD145 - Annual Report on the Office of Farmland Preservation


Executive Summary:
This report presents the primary accomplishments of the Office of Farmland Preservation for the period December 1, 2003 through December 1, 2004. As indicated in reports for prior years, all direct funding for the Office of Farmland Preservation was eliminated in the budget reductions in FY2003. While having no financial resources has significantly limited activities in the program, staff of the VDACS Agribusiness Development Services Unit, where the program is currently assigned, have managed to achieve some of the objectives of the Office of Farmland Preservation in the context of performing their assigned economic development functions.

Significant accomplishments for this reporting period are given as follows:

• Staff of the Agribusiness Development Services Unit made more than ten presentations to state and federal agencies, local governments and private advocacy groups concerning the need for farm business transition planning and farmland preservation, thereby helping to meet the outreach/education function of the Office of Farmland Preservation.

• The Farm Transition Database, which was developed and is being maintained by the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation, was launched in December 2003 and has grown to almost 100 listings showing farmers entering and exiting agriculture.

• The Virginia Farmland Preservation Taskforce finalized the local component of the Model Purchase of Development Rights Program and released that model on June 30, 2004, thereby meeting one of the first objectives in developing a Model State PDR Program.

This report begins with a summary of the mission and overview of the Office of Farmland Preservation and then provides additional details on the accomplishments for this reporting period in Outreach/Education, Virginia Farm Link and Virginia Farmland Preservation.