(The Center Square) — As Georgia lawmakers ponder how to preserve farmland, their potential action could include expanding tax credits or incentives, similar to what the state offers to lure high-profile economic development projects.
Georgia has lost at least 2.6 million acres of land since 1974 and a million acres of timberland, state Sen. Billy Hickman, R-Statesboro, said during a Senate Study Committee on the Preservation of Georgia’s Farmland meeting.
“With the urban sprawl and people coming to Georgia, it’s time now more than ever to preserve our Georgia farmlands,” state Sen. Bo Hatchett, R-Cornelia, said during the meeting.
Landowners who promise to maintain their lands for a designated use, such as agriculture or forestry, can secure lower property tax rates through the state’s Conservation Use Valuation Assessment program, typically called CUVA.
“Someone stated that the biggest threat to the preservation of farmland was rooftops and subdivisions,” state Sen. Russ Goodman, R-Cogdell, said during the meeting. “And I told them, … ‘I think the biggest threat to the preservation of farmland might be that farmers can’t make a living farming right now — at least not in my part of the country.'”
Jackson County Commission Chairman Tom Crow said CUVA emerged after county commissioners approached state lawmakers asking them to help slow growth.
“During that time, the county commissioners were pushing for a lot of subdivisions: We need to bring more people into the counties to spread our tax load around; we get these houses and people in here, and we’re going to collect a lot of money,” Crow said. “Well, that went on for several years, but somewhere along the line, … the county commissioners realized that the houses [and] subdivisions were not paying their way. They still don’t today.
“…How can we prevent this? Why are these farmlands being converted? It’s the taxes,” Crow said. “How can we prevent it? CUVA was born.”
Ironically, one of the most significant threats to farming is the state’s business-friendly climate, which state leaders love to tout. Economic development projects like the 2,923-acre Bryan County Megasite along Interstate 16 are converting farmland for other uses.
Dave Wills, the executive director of the Association County Commissioners of Georgia, pointed to Bartow County, where a report indicated that more than 1,000 acres sold for $110,000 an acre.
“That’s what I call generational wealth,” Wills said. “You can make your children, your grandchildren, your great-grandchildren all wealthy, and you’ll never make that kind of money farming.
“So those kind of development pressures are going to continue, but how are we going to be smart about making sure that we preserve the largest industrial complex, if you will, which is agriculture? It’s our biggest business,” Wills added. “If we can put billions and billions of dollars into incentives to get [businesses] to come here, we can do more to help preserve agriculture.”