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Agency of Agriculture warns current-use changes could accelerate loss of prime farmland
Summary
Agency official Ryan Patch told a legislative committee that bills under consideration (H-134, H-273 and H-291) could ease residential development on farmland and urged caution, citing mapped overlaps between state-designated growth centers and prime agricultural soils.
For the record, Ryan Patch with the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets told a House committee on Oct. 12 that proposed changes to the state's current-use program warrant careful consideration because they could encourage conversion of productive soils to housing.
Patch, the agency's Agriculture Climate and Land Use Policy Manager, said the bills under discussion ' H-134, H-273 and H-291 ' would change who qualifies for use-value appraisal or make it easier to take land out of current use near state-designated growth centers. "Current use value appraisal is one of those golden goose programs," Patch said, adding the program helps keep agricultural land economically viable by reducing property taxes on land that is worked.
The agency offered technical context and flagged trade-offs. Patch said GIS analysis shows about 30,000 acres of undeveloped land with prime or statewide-rated soils inside state-designated boundaries, and that roughly 10,000 of those acres are in active agricultural use based on…
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