Leahy: Vermont Receives $3.5 Million in Farmland Protection Funds

WASHINGTON (June 6) -- Vermont will receive $3.5 million of $17.5 million in grant funding nationwide, under a program conceived by Sen. Patrick Leahy, that will help protect thousands of acres of farmland and open space from urban sprawl.

"The Farmland Protection Program is a big win for Vermont’s farmers and the environment," said Leahy, a senior member and former chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee. "Protecting working farmland undergirds our vital agricultural sector while preserving the open spaces that define Vermont’s character."

As cities and towns grow, more than one million acres of farmland have been disappearing each year. Leahy’s Farmland Protection Program helps communities preserve farmland and open space through the purchase of conservation easements, which limit or prohibit future development on the land. Farmers who participate in this program are then compensated for keeping it in use as farmland or open space, instead of selling off their farms to developers.

Commissioner of the Vermont Department of Agriculture, Food and Markets Leon Graves said, "The Vermont Farmland Conservation Program provides participating Vermont farmers with a source of capital to reduce debt, reinvest in farm infrastructure, and increase efficiency, which in turn provides stability to Vermont’s agricultural economy. The NRCS funds will double the amount of farmland that can be conserved with state and private funds alone."

This U.S. Department of Agriculture grant was made possible when Leahy secured $17.5 million for national farmland protection efforts in a crop insurance reform bill last summer. The Vermont Housing and Conservation Board (VHCB) is an independent, state-supported funding agency that is responsible for administering these grant funds.

Gus Seelig, VHCB’s executive director said, "Vermont’s Farmland Conservation Program conserves the state’s most productive farmland, facilitating the transfer of farms to the next generation, and supports reinvestment in our agricultural industry. There are currently more than 60 farmers with applications pending to sell development rights through the program. These funds will help us dramatically while helping farmers stay in business. The $3.5 million will enable the conservation of thousands of acres of prime agricultural land over the next two years."

Initially authorized at $35 million, the program’s success outpaced available funding, which ran out two years later. Leahy worked with Congress last year to approve $17.5 million in new farmland protection funding in the Agriculture Risk Protection Act of 2001, a crop insurance reform bill. Leahy is leading a bipartisan coalition of 43 senators to add more than $1.3 billion in funding for agricultural conservation efforts in Fiscal Year 2002, including at least $200 million for farmland protection. Leahy is also working on funding farmland protection at comparable or higher levels in upcoming farm bills.

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