AG LAND VITAL TO DELAWARE'S PROSPERITY
Delaware State News
By Jack Markell and Michael T. Scuse
July 12, 2002
As the summer months bring to life Delaware's beautiful farmland, now is a good time to remember that life in our state is better because of our farmland and agricultural industries.
Delaware's Agricultural Lands Preservation program is a national success story. Delaware has permanently preserved 310 farms, encompassing over 65,345 acres of prime cropland, forest and wetlands. Delaware is number one in the nation in terms of percentage of its land permanently preserved for agriculture.
Delawareans should know their quality of life is also being preserved and protected at a good value.
The farmland preservation program is creative and efficient. Landowners have volunteered to sell their development rights at an average discount of over half their appraised values. Their contribution allows Delaware to preserve its most precious commodity at a significant savings to taxpayers. Farmland preservation is a smart investment.
There is a good chance you are not a farmer - less than one percent of Delaware's population farms. Even as the face and pace of agriculture has changed over the years, agriculture is important to our state's economy.
Over 18,000 people work in Delaware's agriculture, food and related industries. Production agriculture alone contributes $800 million to the state's economy. Beyond that, agricultural industries are top multipliers in our economy, meaning that every time agriculture grows, Delaware benefits from an even bigger increase in the economy.
Pictsweet Frozen Foods will soon set up a facility in Cannon, Delaware, drawing products from 10,000 acres of Delaware farmland and putting over $4 million into the farm economy. Kenny Produce will locate a pickle handling plant near Bridgeville, generating over $3.75 million in farm sales. Both companies cite farmland preservation as proof of the State's commitment to agriculture.
Preserving farmland insures that these industries continue to prosper and generate jobs and revenue for our state. But the loss of farmland means other grave economic losses: without farmland, Delaware loses processing plants, machinery sales, transportation, and more.
Farmland also provides an equitable tax base for our citizens. For every $1 paid in taxes, farms demand just 50 cents in services. For that same $1 in taxes, residential land demands $1.20 in services such as police, schools, and roads.
Of course, growth fuels the economy and helps our State prosper. We need to be mindful of the need for continued development and prosperity. But farmland preservation is important in certain areas of the State to protect agriculture, related industries and to provide economic security.
Many industries are uncertain, but agriculture is stable. While farmers may come and go, the land and the economic activity it generates will not move to another state.
Yet farmland is disappearing at an alarming rate of 5,000 acres a year. We lose this land because farmers cannot withstand the economic pressures of rapid growth and escalating land prices.
Our quality of life
What if you and your children could no longer pick fresh strawberries at the U-Pick each July? Would you miss that serene crop of winter wheat near your home?
Open space, more than 80 percent of which is owned by farmers, makes these experiences possible. Not only do farms provide us with food and scenery, but the woodlands shelter animals and plants and clean the air we breathe. Each year, the beauty of our open space attracts visitors from around the country and the world.
Our farmland preservation program protects our economy and the fast-disappearing open space we cherish. It helps farmers stay on their land.
This summer, as you drive down back roads or hurry to the beach, think of Joni Mitchell's lyrics, "they paved paradise, put up a parking lot." None of us want this to happen to our state. The Delaware Agricultural Lands Program preserves unpaved fields, woods, and wetlands for our children, and it protects our livelihoods now and for the future.
We hope you will join us in supporting Delaware's farmland preservation, a program that has done so much to insure Delaware's quality of life for today - and tomorrow.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Jack Markell is Delaware's state treasurer. Michael T. Scuse is Delaware's secretary of agriculture.
