Terrestrial Resource Plan

Adam Foxman
SCI/275
Loss of Agricultural Land
Over half of the dollar value of agricultural
production occurs in our countrys
metropolitan counties (Stuart, 2011).
These areas are threatened by over farming
and a rising demand in second home
development for people that live in the city.
This in turn means they are living on rich,
productive agricultural lands without utilizing
its resources.

Rate of Decline
Loss of farmland is occurring
at a rate of over 1.2 million
acres per year domestically,
and increasing annually
(Stuart, 2011).
Part of that number is due to
farmers giving in to economic
pressure to sell their lands so
subdivisions can be created.
This urban sprawl often
leads to poor air quality, loss
of green space, and a
degradation of the water
quality (Ryan, 2010).
Solutions
Programs for the purchase of agricultural
conservation easements (PACE) is a powerful tool
to help protect Americas farmland.
These programs use public resources to pay farm
landowners to place a restriction upon their land
preventing its development and thereby keeping
the land in agriculture (Stuart, 2011).
The 2002 Farm Bill provides nearly $1 billion in
50% matching funds for local PACE programs.
Examples
British Columbia began the
Agricultural Land Reserve in
the 1970s. This effectively set
aside land that could only be
used for agricultural
purposes.
Even this was flawed and a
smaller effort than it sounds.
Mainly northern sections of
the province were set aside,
which are far inferior to the
southern lands.
Mitigation Bank
A mitigation bank would force any developer that wants to
change an agricultural land to some other use, would need
to pay to replace that land elsewhere.
This currently exists for wetlands and other critical habitats.
It ensures that the money paid by the developer goes to
purchasing some portion of preserved land to be set aside
for agricultural uses.
Sustainment Plan
I believe the most feasible plan is to create
federal mitigation banks to preserve
agricultural lands.
The challenge will be lobbyists that oppose
the bill on behalf of major developers.
If a bill were to pass creating a mitigation
bank, then every agricultural land that was
leveled for other purposes, would be replaced
elsewhere on federal preserve lands.
References
Ryan, J. S. (2010, February). A Mitigation Strategy
for Agricultural Land Loss. Retrieved from
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2712
339/a_mitigation_strategy_for_agricultural.html

Stuart, D. (2011, Fall). Addressing America's Loss
of Agricultural Lands: Creating Programs for the
Purchase of Agricultural Conservation Easements.
Retrieved from
http://www.farmland.org/programs/states/docu
ments/PACE_Addressing_loss.pdf