Agriculture
Secretary Art Brown today joined Assembly Speaker
Jack Collins and Assembly Agriculture and Natural
Resources Committee Chair Jack Gibson in expressing
support for the state Farmland Preservation Program.
Secretary Brown is chair of the State Agriculture
Development Committee, which administers the state
Farmland Preservation Program. Specifically, he
pointed out the following: 1) The Farmland Preservation
Program uses an objective process to select farms
for preservation. The main goal of farmland
preservation is to ensure the survivability of
New Jersey's economically valuable agricultural
industry. The only way to do that is to preserve
large, contiguous blocks of farmland that protect
agricultural operations from the pressures of surrounding
development. The Farmland Preservation Program,
which is mandated by law to evaluate farms for
preservation based on their agricultural productivity,
uses a point system to rank all applicant farms
according to how well they meet the agricultural
criteria. Most New Jersey farms have some degree
of wetlands - some of them quite valuable to agricultural
production. Therefore, it is incorrect to assume
that farms with wetlands have no place in the Farmland
Preservation Program. How much the program pays
to acquire development rights on those farms is
an entirely separate issue. 2) The Farmland
Preservation Program uses an objective process
to determine development values. In most cases,
the state purchases the development easement on
a farm - or the landowner's right to develop the
property for anything other than agricultural purposes.
The value of that easement -- known as the development
value -- is the difference between what a developer
would pay for the property and what it is worth
solely for agriculture. Development values for
every farm under consideration are determined through
an appraisal process - just like the state Green
Acres Program and every other state farmland preservation
program in the country. Two appraisals by licensed
independent appraisers are required for each farm.
If a farm contains wetlands or any other development
limitations, the program's regulations mandate
that the appraisers must make downward adjustments
in price. Their value recommendations are reviewed
by a third SADC staff appraiser. The SADC certifies
a final development value based on the professional
judgement of these three appraisers. If a farm
had limited development value, that would be reflected
in a substantially lower purchase price. If it
had no development value, the purchase price would
be zero. The appraisal process - particularly the
oversight provided by the state review appraiser
- prevents any individual from unfairly benefiting
from the program, said Brown. "The bottom line
is that we have an objective process for determining
fair-market value, and we pay nothing more than
that value," said Brown. "In fact, we often pay
less through a sealed-bid process that allows landowners
to discount their prices to improve chances that
their farms will be preserved. This discounting
process has resulted in savings of more than $25
million over the past 10 years." 3) The Farmland
Preservation Program takes into account septic
suitability when determining development values. Septic
suitability is one of the factors examined through
the appraisal process. Appraisers rely on county
soil surveys and recent comparable sales - including
those with the same or similar soils - to determine
development potential. This standard procedure
provides sufficient information to make value determinations
without requiring soil boring tests. "Neither the
Green Acres Program nor any other state farmland
preservation program in the nation that I know
of requires such tests," said Secretary Brown. "All
rely on the same standard appraisal process that
utilizes readily available technical resources,
including county soil surveys and state wetlands
maps. In fact, our requirements for two appraisals
- plus a state appraiser review - are more stringent
than some other states that require only one appraisal." The
Farmland Preservation Program will continue its
efforts to preserve an additional 500,000 acres
of farmland over the next decade - a goal overwhelmingly
supported by New Jersey voters, said Brown. "Anyone
has the right to question how taxpayer dollars
are being spent," said Brown. "What concerns me
is the unwillingness to do so objectively. It is
unfortunate that because of this, a fine program
continues to be maligned."
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