A Growing Concern

By Carrie J. Sidener
Lynchburg News & Advance
Friday, October 20, 2006


A for sale sign is planted in front of a farmhouse that has been in Joyce Abbott’s family since 1939.
She spent her childhood in the house and returned to it in 1990 with her husband when he retired. Nine years later, he died.
“I never thought I would live on the farm without him,” she said.
Although a tenant farmer works the land, Abbott no longer felt safe living alone in the Bedford County farmhouse. Then a bad fall made her think perhaps it was time to sell the place she’s always called home.
She fears the 46-acre farm near the Campbell County border will be the next swallowed up in the business and residential growth gathering steam along U.S. 460.
“I’d love to see it stay in farm land,” she said, “but I’m not optimistic.”
The Abbott farm - with its rolling pasture and grazing cattle - is part of the signature scenery of Central Virginia. Just like the fruit trees in Amherst and Nelson counties, the cornfields of Bedford and the cattle-spotted fields of Campbell, the area’s pastoral views are a defining characteristic.
But many are becoming increasingly concerned that that identity is at risk.
Interviews with more than two dozen farmers, developers, agricultural agents and county planners throughout Central Virginia show family farmers under growing pressure from shrinking profits and the lack of people willing to pick up the trade.
At the same time, the value of the land in Lynchburg and the surrounding counties is soaring - making it more tempting for farmers to sell their land, and more inviting for investors to develop new parcels.
The result - an increasing number of farms have been targeted for housing developments or retail centers. Several have been announced in the past six months or so, including:
• A 400-home subdivision called Farmington at Forest is under construction on a 300-acre farm off Perrowville Road.
• A retail complex called Lakeside Centre, on the 130-acre McConville farm at Lakeside Drive and U.S. 501, won approval this month in Lynchburg.
• A 230-home subdivision named Elon Forest is planned for about 400 acres off River Road in Amherst County.
“We are seeing many farms having pressures placed on them due to the economy,” said George Nester, Bedford County’s director of community development. “It gets to the point where a farmer does one of two things. More frequently than not, a lot of farms are being turned over and sold.”
Not all farms changing hands are becoming developments, but more are moving out of the families that farmed them for centuries. Some are going into the hands of other farmers, some to people looking for a quiet haven, some to investors. And an increasing number are turning into housing developments.
“People do what they call taking the one-time harvest. Get the money you can get and that is the fruit of your labor,” said developer Tom DeWitt. “Quite frankly, it’s a tough way of life. If farming were profitable, people would be doing it.
“People make the developers out to be the bad guy. But when they are ready to sell, I am a gift from God.”

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The value of open land in Central Virginia more than doubled from 1992-2002, according to the latest data available from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Since 2002, though, the price of land on the market has risen considerably higher.
“In the last two years, we bought four tracts ranging from 20 to 100 acres,” DeWitt said. “In every case, we paid $7,000 to $9,000 per acre.”
Some property has soared far beyond that. A 220-acre tract in Forest that fronts U.S. 221, Everett and Gladden roads is selling for almost $6.5 million, or $29,500 per acre.
Determining how many acres of farmland have been sold in Central Virginia since 2002 is guesswork for county planners, since the most current USDA information is four years old.
Those numbers show that from 1997 to 2002, Bedford County lost more than 8,000 acres of farmland. Campbell lost more than 9,000 and Amherst lost more than 1,700 acres.
Scott Baker, cooperative extension agent for Bedford County, said three-quarters of farmland statewide will change hands in the next 10 to 15 years.
“On almost any day you can pick up the paper and look in the classifieds and see it,” Baker said.
While there’s no historical data available for a true comparison on changes in farm ownership statewide, Baker said he thinks more farms are turning over than ever before.
“The concern is that a larger percentage of land ownership is changing hands than historically takes place,” he said.
The development pressures began to snowball about five years ago, when interest rates were half what they are today. Developers could buy large tracts through finance companies and afford to hold them until the property sold, DeWitt said.
That’s when projects like Sommerset Farms in New London, and Ivy Trace and Gilfield Village in Forest were born, he said.
When interest rates were low, developers could afford to buy more high-value property and make the payments on it until it sold, DeWitt said.
Now that interest rates are higher, “most developers are willing to carry less on the books,” he said.
Chris Mowry, of Long Meadows Inc., has worked on projects like New Towne off McConville Road in Lynchburg. He said farmland is a hot commodity, particularly when it’s close to public water and sewer. Those properties fetch a higher price than other large tracts for sale.
“We look at farmland as a clean palette,” Mowry said. “We can start from scratch as opposed to going in and fixing something up.
“Right now it seems like just about everywhere is fairly warm when it comes to building.”
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While new construction adds to the county’s tax base, it also causes headaches for planners. Too much growth strains roads, schools and other infrastructure. Too little growth, and the county’s tax base dwindles.
“How we approach planning determines how fast land is used up, the impact on infrastructure and how it plays into the character of the community,” said Campbell County Administrator David Laurrell.
“On one hand, we have folks who are very pro-individual property rights. On the other hand, we have really strong growth-management folks. What do you want to be when you grow up?”
Amherst County Administrator Rodney Taylor said what is happening now will shape the character of the county 25 years from now.
“You used to be able to buy produce in Poplar Grove,” he said. “That’s what you saw as you drove through the county.”
Now that area is a 500-acre golf community that recently announced plans to develop another 500 acres.
Large tracts of farmland cost counties 25 cents to serve per $1 taxes paid, according to a 2005 American Farmland Trust study for Bedford County. Housing developments cost $1.07 per tax dollar to serve.
That’s because of the strain homes put on school systems, roads, parks, public safety departments and other county infrastructure, Nester said.
“We are not experiencing the type of growth in Amherst as they have in Bedford County, but it is beginning to accelerate,” Taylor said. “At what point do we need to be building new elementary schools and high schools? We need to have the infrastructure in place to adequately serve the needs.”
Bedford County is at the forefront of the growth trend in Central Virginia. County Administrator Kathleen Guzi said the Board of Supervisors is trying to find that balance between protecting individual property rights and preserving open space.
“We know that some development is inevitable to a certain extent,” she said. “Do we have enough tools available to maintain open space? … If there is going to be growth, we want to channel that growth to where we’ve run water and sewer.”
Much is at stake.
“Once farming is lost, we will never see it again,” Nester said. “The state consistently allows property owners to use their property to the highest and best use, and that is residential. That was the case over the last 400 years but that is now clashing with a different set of realities.
“It’s going to require a lot of new thinking.”

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The amount of farmland in Central Virginia will likely never increase, said Bill Seay, agricultural extension agent for Amherst County. The cost is far too high compared to the profit that can be reaped from the land.
“The only way to farm is if it’s basically handed down to you,” Seay said. “With land prices at $15,000 an acre, it’s too high. Very few agricultural enterprises will generate enough returns to pay for the land, equipment and other expenses.”
Even then, it’s a tough row to hoe.
Take beef cattle - the primary agricultural venue in Campbell County - as an example.
If a farmer buys 50 cows, that is about $40,000 to get started, according to Scott Reiter, Campbell County Cooperative Extension Agent. But the farmer will only pull $2,500 in profit annually from those cows. That’s not enough to meet the mortgage payment.
“From a budget prospective, it will take you many, many years to pay for those cows,” Reiter said. “The cost of land, the financing of buildings, buying livestock - it’s so much expense. If you have to borrow it, it cuts into your income potential. … Many people say why bother. Even buying land is not really an option.”
There are many other expense headaches for farmers. Fertilizer is petroleum based, so rising fuel prices have a direct correlation to a farm’s bottom line. And as the number of farms in the area dwindles, so does the number of local suppliers, which tends to boost prices. People who repair farm equipment sometimes have to drive three hours to get here.
When the weather doesn’t cooperate, farm profits shrink further.
This summer’s dry conditions led to a reduced hay crop and less grazing time for the cattle, Seay said. That resulted in cattle that weighed less this season, eating into profits since beef cattle are sold by the pound.
“They are being squeezed from both ends,” Seay said. “Throw in a bad season and it squeezes the margins even further.”
Those who kept their herd are facing the increased cost of buying feed to make it through the winter.
“Twenty, 30, 40 years ago, the grain and livestock prices were not a lot different than they are now,” Reiter said. “But the costs have increased. … The agricultural prices haven’t kept up at the rate of the rest of the economy. It’s not a problem that is unique to this area or to the United States, for that matter.”


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In farming, there are no air-conditioned fields, no leisurely lunch breaks, no cushy upholstered desk chairs and no guaranteed profit.
Those are some of the reasons farmers are steering away from the profession. The average age of farmers in the area is about 60 years old, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“That should raise concern over what generation is going to replace these farmers,” Nester said. “That has long-term implications for the county, the state and the nation. Some farmers are aging and beginning to get ready to retire without someone to take it over.”
There are only three choices for retirement - selling the farm, renting the land, or having another family member take over its operations.
“Some of them still have the ability to work but they are getting to the point that they are looking at retirement,” Reiter said. “What do they do with it? A lot of time they just sell out.”
It’s a lifestyle that few are willing to adopt, driving the next generation of farmers into other, more stable careers, said Baker, the Bedford County cooperative extension agent.
“A lot of children see what their parents went through and say they think they will do something else,” Baker said. “They think ‘Should I work that hard for that level of profit?’”
Reiter said many farmers have another income - working a full-time job in addition to farming, for example, or a spouse who works. The full-time job provides the family with medical insurance, and can help shoulder living expenses.
Part-time farming is a trend in Central Virginia, Seay said.
Seay is one of those farmers. He has a cattle farm that he works with his brother in addition to serving as Amherst County’s cooperative extension agent. He said it is a juggling act.
“It takes a lot of work,” Seay said. “There’s hay season and calving season. All the time there’s something, like fences to repair. Sometimes we can’t do what I know we should do at the proper time because we have to work it in and do the best you can do when you work it part time.”
Part-time farming helps keep the farms profitable, Baker said.
“It usually means additional income from off the farm,” he said. “That’s a better credit risk. They are no longer realizing all their income from the farm. I don’t think off-the-farm income should be subsidizing the operations, but it can provide for family expenses like health and life insurance.”
Reiter said it is next to impossible to grow enough to make a living at farming.
“We can’t keep doing this,” Reiter said. “We can’t keep selling products for less than the cost to produce it. With soybeans, cotton and tobacco, they can be shipped in for less than we can produce it.”
Taylor, the Amherst County administrator, sees the problem as a lack of support. He said counties need to realize the role farms play in the economy and provide assistance to keep them economically viable.
“Farms are a large part of our economy,” Taylor said. “We need to provide similar assistance as we do for those businesses in the industrial parks.
“From an economic development standpoint, we take farms for granted.”