Washington, D.C., October 3, 2002-The rate of prime agricultural land loss in Virginia has increased 76 percent in the last five years, according to a new study by American Farmland Trust.

The study, Farming on the Edge: Sprawling Development Threatens America's Best Farmland, finds that Virginia developed 105,000 acres of its highest quality farmland between 1992 and 1997, ranking among the top 20 states in prime acres lost. As a nation, the U. S. converted more than 6 million acres to other uses during the same period-an area approximately the size of Maryland.

"Vital farming areas like the Shenandoah Valley that are struggling with drought, disease and depressed local economies are vulnerable to the demand for land, particularly along the Interstate 81 corridor," said Mary Heinricht, Mid-Atlantic regional director for American Farmland Trust. "The Governor and legislature have made a commitment to protecting our working lands, but the fiscal crunch facing Virginia makes it extremely difficult to find funding. The citizens and communities of Virginia will need to continue to 'step up to the plate' to assure the future of agriculture and farmland in the Commonwealth."

"The Virginia Agricultural Vitality Program, which gained universal support from legislators and has been actively promoted by farm and conservation organizations, will give communities the support needed to guarantee the future of farming in the Commonwealth," said Senator Emmett W. Hanger (R-24th District). "American Farmland Trust's Farming on the Edge study maps the threat to Virginia's highly productive agricultural lands and gives us another tool to use when planning for their protection."

To help staunch the loss of working lands, Farming on the Edge calls for national, regional and local policy changes to redirect development away from high quality farmland.

Some changes have already come to the Commonwealth. In September, Virginia was allocated $1.5 million in federal Farmland Protection Program money from the 2002 Farm Bill. Local programs and non-profits have taken the initiative to secure the federal funding for land protection by providing matching money.

"In spite of the hard economic times, Virginia communities are funding land protection, showing just how dire the need is and how great the commitment to our agricultural resources," Heinricht said. "And even without a funded state farmland protection program, Virginia is successfully implementing innovative tools like a transferable tax credit on easement donations and a state farm transition program to help ease the transfer of working lands to the next generation of farmers."

"Keeping farmland affordable is critical to the future of agriculture in Virginia," said Wes Kent, a young dairy farmer from the Shenandoah Valley. "The rising cost of land combined with the costs of production make it nearly impossible for young farmers to get a start."

"It's time to take a hard look at the haphazard way we've been growing," said Senator R. Edward Houck (D-17th District). "We need to revitalize our traditional Virginia communities and protect our working farms and forests - before it's too late."

The Farming on the Edge study and maps are available on American Farmland Trust's Web site, http://www.farmland.org/.

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American Farmland Trust is a private, nonprofit farmland conservation organization founded in 1980 to stop the loss of productive farmland and to promote farming practices that lead to a healthy environment, Its action-oriented programs include public education, technical assistance in policy development and demonstration farmland protection projects. AFT's national office is located in Washington, DC. AFT's Mid Atlantic Regional Office is located at 302 E. Davis Street, Suite 201 in Culpeper, VA, 22701. Phone number is 540.829.5220.