(TRENTON)
- The State Agriculture Development Committee (SADC)
today approved deadlines for its next round of farmland
preservation applications:
The deadlines
are as follows:
Planning Incentive
Grant (PIG)
program: Jan.
14, 2004
Nonprofit
Grant Program:
Feb. 4, 2004
State Direct
Easement
Purchase:
Feb. 4, 2004
|
The deadline for the County Easement Purchase program
is Sept. 15, 2003, an annual deadline set in regulation.
The other deadlines are set annually by the SADC,
which administers the state Farmland Preservation
program.
Under the PIG and Nonprofit programs, local officials
and organizations take the lead in filing applications
and dealing with farm owners to preserve their farms.
Under the State Direct Easement Purchase program,
farm owners apply directly to the SADC, which handles
negotiations and conducts appraisals.
Under the County program, County Agriculture Development
Boards select farms for preservation and apply to
the SADC for cost-share or reimbursement.
Most farms are preserved by the purchase of development
rights, which involves the placement of easements
on the property restricting its use to agriculture
only.
However, the SADC also acquires farms outright
through the Fee Simple program to protect them from
development. The Fee Simple program can be used to
buy outright and preserve a farm at any time without
concern for deadlines.
The State Agriculture Development Committee established
in 1983 is an 11-member board. To date it has preserved
918 farms totaling 110,266 acres. |