Protecting Farmland in Grant County

Grant County recently added approximately seventy-five acres to land regulated under the 2003 Farmland Protection Act. Under this law, farm owners can choose to bind all future owners of the property, including purchasers and inheritors, to non development. No industrial or subdivision development can occur apparently ever. Only agricultural production or no activity will be allowed.

Both Grant and Hardy County have similar statutes and both have had land placed under this restrictive legislation. Although it is doubtful that many property owners would choose to give up their rights, one wonders what the overall effects could be in the long term. The value of the land will definitely drop over time, especially if it falls into non production. This means tax receipts will fall, at least until the taxes on productive land get raised to meet the shortfall.

Certainly at some point this will face legal challenges. Not every farmer's children want to farm. Some may want to make money in other ways if Grant County's land values continue to rise over time. Few, even farmers, will want to purchase land with such restrictions placed upon it. With little opportunity to sell or develop, if agriculture does not continue on the said lands, these properties will likely end up in government hands eventually. Either it will get seized for taxes, or the property owners will end up being bought out by the taxpayers.

Any time that legal restrictions get placed on property rights, even for seemingly benevolent reasons, the law of unintended consequences gets triggered. Many of these owners forfeiting their rights now will have cause to regret it later. If they do not, their children will. Should the demand for corn rise as expected due to increased bio fuels production, the marketplace will be the best protector of farmland.

Perhaps the worst part about this deal is how the taxpayers get stuck with an unnecessary deal. Individual property owners have the right to go to the courthouse and place covenant restrictions on their deeds. Farmer Brown can go down and protect his farmland until the end of time if he so chooses, only this law gives him $4,000 of taxpayer money to perform a task he can already do by himself at no cost to the rest of us.

This law was passed with the best of intentions. Agriculture is important to the economy and the traditions of this area. However market, not government solutions work best in the long run.

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By the way, many thanks to Shelley Moore Capito for her work in helping to spare thousands of West Virginians from paying the anachronistic Alternative Minimum Tax. It was passed in 1969 to tax the wealthy. Of course income levels considered wealthy in 1969 are not living in the lap of luxury today. Certainly it needs repealed, if only to prevent the headache of repeatedly going back and legislating exemptions to protect the middle class.