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Preserving
Wilderness and Farm Land
Farmland Preservation Tools in Motion
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Butterfly Hollow Farm ____ The Path Leading Us Here ____ How The Farm Got Its Name ____ Restoring the Old Farmhouse ____ Where The Beefalo Roam ____ Saddle Up The Horses ____ Saving Wilderness and Farm Land ____ Farm Journals ____ Sharing The Farm ____ Guest Book ____ Site Map ____ |
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Carol
County Maryland is one of the most important agricultural states on the east coast. In the nation, it ranks 8th for broilers, 10th for tobacco, 14th for greenhouse and nursery products and 21st for soybeans. Maryland is also a very desirable place to live, with Washington D.C at its heart. Between 1945 and 1970, Maryland experienced a population and development boom. Their agricultural land decreased from 4.2 million acres to 2.8 million acres, losing 55,000 acres per year. In 1973 farm interests realizing that the 2.3 billion dollar a year industry needed a critical mass of land to keep farming profitable began planning and creating some of the farmland protection programs that have since become models that many other states and counties have followed. Carroll County, which is located about 50 miles north of D.C is within commuting distance from D.C and Baltimore. During the 1970's, the county was losing approximately 5% of its farmland annually. Nearly 70% of residential development took place in the rural area of the county. By the end of the 70's, farmers and non-farmers began to see the importance of protecting the remaining agricultural land. In 1978, they were one of the first counties to recognize the value of the state's new PACE (Purchase of Agricultural Conservation Easements) program. The program was particularly attractive to farmers at the time because, with only a few counties participating, substantial funding was available for each county. The county set a goal of acquiring easements on at least 100,000 acres of farmland. As the state program became more competitive, Carroll County implemented additional farmland protection programs and their own PACE program. The county also implemented APZ (Agricultural Protection Zoning) in 1978, which limited development on 184,000 acres to one lot per 20 acres. The farmland zone now covers 64% of the county.
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info@butterflyhollow.com
Butterfly
Hollow
Gordonsville,
TN 38563