West Virginia Success Story

Preserving Farms Protects the Bay

Program or Category: Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program (FRPP)

Overview: Productive farmland is being permanently converted to non agriculture uses. West Virginia loses over 100,000 acres of productive farmland every year to development. Berkeley, Jefferson, and Morgan are the fastest growing counties in the state and are being transformed by the expanding urban sprawl of the Washington-Baltimore Metropolitan Area.

Accomplishments:
To help prevent loss of farmland, West Virginia adopted the Voluntary Farmland Protection Act in 2000. Counties and the State have authority to develop and fund local farmland protection programs. Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has partnered with the counties, land trusts, and the WV Farmland Protection Authority to institutionalize state farmland protection programs. Approximately $5 million in FRPP funds has preserved approximately 5,000 acres of productive farmland with total easement value of over $15 million since FY 2002. The following Chesapeake Bay Watershed counties are participating in the FRPP.

Program Benefits to Landowner:
USDA provides up to 50 percent of the appraised fair market value of the conservation easement in this voluntary program. State and local entities can match that amount; including the use of landowner donations. The landowner maintains control of their land and agrees not to convert their land to non-agricultural uses. In some case, the easements can help ease debt.

More detailed landowner benefits may be seen at the following web links:

• NRCS and the Civil War Preservation Trust Preserve Farmland http://www.wv.nrcs.usda.gov/news/success/04/04_civilWar.html
• Keeping their Beloved Farm http://www.wv.nrcs.usda.gov/news/success/05mar/05frpp.html

Program Benefits to Community:
Protecting farmland from permanent conversion to non-agricultural land uses in West Virginia is at a critical stage. The state has limited prime farmland acreage and the loss of each acre has a more profound impact upon the rural economy, rural lifestyle, and farm families than in any other state. Once protected by conservation easements, this land is shielded from development pressure and continues to support our safe and abundant food supply.

The Chesapeake Bay benefits by implementation of a conservation plan on the easement. Well-managed farmland offers the Bay protections because the land can absorb and filter pollutants that run off asphalt and buildings. Farmers have nutrient management plans to ensure excess fertilizer isn't washed into streams while most homeowners haven't been educated about how to use fertilizers properly.

Contact:
Patrick D. Bowen, Assistant State Conservationist (FO)
304-457-4516 ext 105
Patrick.Bowen@wv.usda.gov

Philippi-East Area Office
Rt. 4, Box 503
Philippi, WV 26416
Phone (304) 457-4516 Fax (304) 457-4131
http://www.wv.nrcs.usda.gov/contact/philippi-eao.html

All West Virginia Chesapeake Bay watershed counties are participating in the Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program.

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