Statement of Senator Patrick Leahy Maintaining our Working Landscape Through the Farmland Protection Program, Senate Committee On Agriculture, Nutrition And Forestry Hearing

July 21, 1999

Mr. Chairman, I want to thank you for convening this important hearing today on the Farmland Protection Program.

When we authorized this program in the 1996 Farm Bill, no one could have predicted the overwhelming interest in the program that we have witnessed from farmers across the country.

Unfortunately, the original funding we provided is gone, and there is no other federal program to fill the gap. That is why I introduced S.333 to reauthorize the Farmland Protection Program at a funding level of $55 million a year.

Since its creation in the 1996 Farm Bill, the Farmland Protection Program has been instrumental in curbing the loss of some of our nation's most productive farmland to urban sprawl.

We have all seen the impact of urban sprawl in our home states, whether through large, multi-tract housing developments or mega-malls that bring national superstores and super-sized parking lots.

We are losing farmland across the country to this trend at an alarming rate. My bill will step up our efforts to modify this disturbing pattern before too many more of America's farms are permanently transformed into asphalt jungles.

In Vermont, we are also seeing the impact of development on our farmland. Rising land prices and development pressures have forced too many Vermont farmers to sell to developers instead of passing on their farms to the next generation.

With the former Farms for the Future program and the Farmland Protection Program, farmers now have a fighting chance to choose farming over liquidation.

Since its inception in Vermont, these programs have helped conserve 78,000 acres of land on more than 220 Vermont farms.

But the success of the program should not just be measured in acres. The program also has helped farmers expand and re-invest in farm facilities and equipment. Some of the farm projects have also led to construction of affordable housing and preservation of wildlife habitat.

You will hear more about our success in Vermont from Gus Seelig later in the hearing. Gus has spearheaded the efforts of the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board to build a program that protects our rural farming heritage in Vermont.

Although Vermont is making great progress, across the nation we continue to lose as much as one million acres of prime farmland annually.

This trend hastens the end of family farms because the next generation simply cannot afford to farm land that is valued at development prices.

The 1996 Farm Bill recognized this problem by directly providing $35 million for farmland protection matching funds that have leveraged millions more from local and private programs.

The program's overwhelming success has far outstripped our original appropriation. More than $200 million has been requested.

My bill will help meet this demand and encourage more state governments, local communities and private groups to charter new initiatives of their own.

This modest federal investment will maintain our commitment to the protection of our rural heritage and working landscape.