WHEREAS, to the New Jersey public, farmland assessment is a cornerstone public policy in keeping agriculture, and all its positive environmental, economic and aesthetic attributes, alive and well in this, the most densely populated state in the nation; and

 WHEREAS, farmland assessment applies to the land used for agricultural production and farmers continue to pay the regular rate of property tax on their farmhouses and other structures; and

 WHEREAS, if a property has a history of agricultural production and farmland assessment, but is sold, and where the new owners maintain the agricultural production and appropriate paperwork, the agricultural assessment will remain in effect; and

 WHEREAS, maintaining privately managed farmland benefits municipal budgets because such farmland requires far less than a dollar’s worth of municipal and local school services for every dollar paid in property taxes while, conversely, residential development requires more than a dollar’s worth of those services for every dollar it generates in property taxes; and

 WHEREAS, certain aspects of farmland assessment are the subject of debate concerning enforcement, education, and qualification criteria, and the agricultural community, whose continued farmland assessment tax equity relies in large part on maintaining the integrity of the program, looks forward to working with the Administration and Legislature to curb any identified abuses of the use of farmland assessment.

 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that we, the delegates to the 98^th State Agricultural Convention, assembled in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on February 6-7, 2013, reaffirm the paramount importance that farmland assessment has in providing equitable taxes on farmland and woodland actively devoted to an agricultural or horticultural use.

 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we direct the Department to be pro-active in its approach to ensuring that it makes available, both electronically and by other means, information to municipal tax assessors about the tax equity benefits of farmland assessment, along with any information regarding the FA-1 application form.

 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we urge the State Board of Agriculture and the Department to continue working to educate municipal tax assessors on agricultural practices common throughout New Jersey, including biosecurity measures, and to provide additional information that will result in a more uniform interpretation of which lands qualify for farmland assessment and which lands don’t.

 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we believe hard-and-fast cropping intensity or livestock carrying capacity standards are not the best way to resolve issues regarding which lands qualify for farmland assessment, since such standards cannot adequately fit the broad scope of land forms, soil types and approved management practices suitable in New Jersey and could result in depletion of natural resources, and would increase the complexity of administering the program and unduly burden qualified land owners.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we support the State Board of Agriculture in conjunction with the Division of Taxation creating the guidelines and examples called for in the pending legislation to reform farmland assessment, while avoiding hard and fast mandates, and we acknowledge the need to work with the Division of Taxation to continually re-examine the criteria, including the amount of agricultural products sold, for qualifying for farmland assessment.