Farmland Preservation Programs: Another Tool for
Managing Urban Growth?
Cindy
Nickerson and Daniel
Hellerstein
On average, 2.2 million acres of farmland
per year were converted to urban uses between 1992
and 2001. While this annual rate represents about
a tenth of a percent of the Nation’s farmland,
conversion rates are much higher near rapidly growing
urban areas. For a variety of reasons, including
the amenities and environmental services provided
by farmed landscapes, such losses are a public concern,
demonstrated by the growing budgets and legislative
support for farmland preservation programs and policies.
Yet, the long-term impact of permanent farmland
preservation on development trends remains an open
question.
Every State has enacted measures
that help protect farmland, but most measures do
not preserve farmland permanently. Among the most
popular approaches are laws, such as rural residential
zoning laws and right-to-farm laws, and voluntary
programs, such as preferential property tax programs.
Studies show that the impacts of these types of
voluntary programs and regulatory approaches tend
to slow the rate at which farmland gets converted
rather than provide permanent protection.
An alternative approach, Purchase
of Development Rights (PDR) programs, is increasingly
popular, despite its higher cost. These programs
place permanent or long-term restrictions on development
of voluntarily enrolled parcels. Through 2006, State
and local governments have purchased development
rights on over 1.7 million acres of farmland through
PDR programs at a cost of $4 billion. This includes
contributions from USDA’s Federal Farm and
Ranch Lands Protection Program (FRPP). FRPP’s
funding was dramatically expanded in the 2002 farm
bill, and continued expansion of the program is
likely to be revisited with the next farm bill.
Despite these growing outlays,
the amount of land preserved through PDR programs
represents less than 2 percent of cropland that
ERS estimates to be subject to some degree of development
pressure. According to ERS estimates, the total
cost of preserving all such cropland today could
be as much as $130 billion.
Little is known about the effects
of PDR programs on development patterns in the long
run. If demand for developable land remains sufficiently
strong and transportation infrastructure keeps commuting
costs from rising disproportionately, PDR programs
may simply have the effect of shifting development
to adjacent unprotected land rather than stopping
farmland conversions from happening. If this occurs,
it may be more realistic to view even PDR programs
as tools to help local jurisdictions manage growth
and guide development away from farmland with desirable
characteristics, rather than as a panacea for stopping
urban sprawl.
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