How far will development go?

By Carrie J. Sidener
Lynchburg News & Advance
Monday, October 23, 2006


As more farms are put up for sale - and more developments announced - Lynchburg-area residents are increasingly asking:

Are we going to become another Northern Virginia?

Of course, Central Virginia is a long way from the traffic congestion and unbridled growth of the Washington, D.C., sub-urbs.

But county planners and land preservation experts say how the area looks in the future depends a lot on decisions being made now. And helping farmers continue to turn a reliable profit is key to many of those efforts.

Officials agree that farms are an often-overlooked segment of the Central Virginia economy. Preservation efforts are in their infancy and the more important factor - the economic viability of farming - has received little attention locally or statewide.

But that is starting to change.

“A lot is going on to keep this part of Virginia beautiful,” said Roger Holnback, executive director of the nonprofit West-ern Virginia Land Trust. “It isn’t wrecked yet, so there is still much we can do to stem the tide.

“No one development is the beginning or the end. But if you get pecked enough, it will kill you.”

While counties’ planning and zoning processes can help maintain open space, Holnback said, little is in place to assist the source of much of that open land: the farmers.

“Farming is not economically viable any more,” he said. “Most people are part-time farmers. Most of these people with 200 acres have to have a job or two to keep the land.”

Amherst County Administrator Rodney Taylor said farms are an overlooked segment of the economy. He thinks they should receive economic incentives like other industries.

“How do you keep them as active, working, profitable farms?” said Kathleen Guzi, Bedford County’s administrator. “We have an agricultural development program, but it is in its infancy. The farming community defined who we were for many years. … They are an integral part in defining what the program is.”

Bedford’s program is still in the planning stages, Guzi said. An immediate next step is a meeting on Nov. 2 with represen-tatives from Virginia counties that have active agricultural development programs. That will help Bedford agricultural and county officials shape their program.

“Local governments and the state are recognizing that it is more than just an industry to this state,” said George Nester, director of community development for Bedford County. “I would like to see more methods and means to enhance and encourage farming in Bedford County.”

Statewide, one of the most important measures in place to help farmers is Virginia’s land-use taxation program, which gives farmers who continue to work the land a tax break.

Most property is taxed based on its market value. But counties that participate in the program have devised an equation that reduces the taxes paid based on the land’s use. If the land is sold for development, there are rollback taxes and penal-ties.

The enabling legislation was passed by the state in 1971, but it is up to each of the counties to choose whether they wanted to participate. Appomattox is the only county in the Lynchburg area that does not.

“It helps quite a bit,” said Amherst County’s cooperative extension agent Bill Seay, who is also a cattle farmer.

“Many folks wouldn’t be farming if they didn’t enjoy it. It goes along with land ownership and loving the land. Sometimes it’s just in your blood. Certain people like to golf. Farmers like to farm.”

Farmers are trying other measures to help maintain their profitability and keep land from falling to development, includ-ing:

? Agritourism. In this sort of business venture, farms use their assets to create a destination for those who want to ex-perience the country life.

Some of those efforts include pick-your-own orchards, corn mazes and hay rides.

“People are paying for the farming experience,” said Scott Baker, Bedford County’s cooperative extension agent. “At some point in time, all of us were on family farms. Everyone has a connection. It’s nostalgic.

“It seems like people are overly busy. It takes them back to a simpler time.”

Agritourism can boost income and is relatively inexpensive for farmers. There is a downside, though. Planning events can be tedious and there are risks associated with allowing visitors on the property.

“It won’t be the answer for everyone,” Baker said. “We can’t have 25 corn mazes. It’s not something that every farm can do.”

? Cooperative farming. Baker said some farmers are banding together to help each other. One example is with beef cattle farmers. Smaller producers are working together to put their cows on the market in larger groups to get a better price.

? Conservation easements. These protect land from development through voluntary agreements between a property owner and a conservation group.

The farmer still owns the land and can farm it, but gives up the ability to develop it. The easement remains with the land regardless of sale. Granting conservation easements does come with tax benefits.

“In the next decade, 70 percent of the rural lands in Virginia will change hands,” Holnback said. “It’s changing hands not because people want to sell their lands, but because they are passing away one at a time. Not a lot of people want to be landowners. They want the money. … Farming is real hard work with not a lot of income.”Conservation easements are granted through the Virginia Outdoors Foundation. Land features and development pressures on the property have to be examined before an easement is granted. For years after, the staff visits to make sure the easement’s provisions are upheld.

So far, more than 7,700 acres have been preserved this way in Central Virginia.

Central to any effort to preserve family farms is encouraging farmers, youth and the community to get involved, Baker and others say.

“If we can’t the future is bleak,” he said. “There is enough to be pessimistic about in agriculture, but it is a resilient indus-try.

“I want to believe that people understand the value of being able to produce food.”