Farmland preservation activated in Maryland When a medium size Egg Grading Installation must have modern Automatic Egg Grading, nothing tops Egomatic’s . Model TR-30, the intelligent solution for 20 to 30 case per hour operations that cannot and will not sacrifice the quality, sophistication and professional egg handling of today’s high capacity systems. Modern Poultry Supplies, Inc. mjp EG MAFIC mao CANOUER / GRADER • 30 CASES PER HOUR ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Maryland’s efforts to save farmland have begun the Agricultural Land Preservation program. Five-member Advisory Boards have been appointed and are active m all 23 counties, program regulations were adopted in January .1979 and the necessary forms for lan downer participation have been distributed to each county, according to the Maryland Department of Agriculture. The program is ad ministered on the state level by the Maryland Agriculture Land Preservation Foun dation of the Maryland Department of Agriculture. The Foundation is a 11- member body whose members are by the Governor. The program is com pletely voluntary on the part of owners of eligible far mland and involves the establishment fit Agricultural Preservation Districts in which the lan downer agrees not to develop bis land for at least a period of five years. In exchange, the owner becomes eligible to offer to sell a development rights easement To the Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation, Hi. Office & Warehouse (Pickup) 1907-A Olde Homestead Lane Lancaster, Pa. 17601* 717-299-0828 or 717-397-5850 normal agricultural ac tivities (i.e. noise, odor, night operations, machinery operation, etc.) become protected activities in the District and, in Districts involving more than one property, landowners can assure self-protection from the encroachment of other land uses. The basic minimum eligibility criteria for land are: 100 acres minimum District size, high productive capability and generally, located outside planned 10- year water and sewerage service areas. In this first step, District establishment, there is a great deal of interest developing among lan downers...the benefits are attractive and if the farmer is committed to farming for at least the five-year period there aren’t any detriments. Once a District has been established Hat owner is immediately eligible to offer to sell a development rights easement to the Foundation. To sell an easement is to sell only one of the many rights the property owner enjoys...the right to commercially develop the land. When an easement is sold, the owner continues to own the farm or FFA forestry contest winners named ELVERSON - Four Twin Valley FFA members participated in the Berks County FFA Forestry Contest on May 8, at Conrad Weiser High School. With Pennsylvania Game Commission Forester Paul Weikel officiating, students idcntified-20 different trees, then used cruising sticks to measure their diameter, estimated the number of logs from each and calculated the number of board feet of lumber in each tree. Each contestant then recom mended whether to cut a tree Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 19,1979—109 can sell it, it is private, and the owner and his heirs can be assured that the farm will remain in agricultural use,' in most cases permanently. The sale of an easement results in changing a portion of equity in land into cash equity and easement sale or easement sale eligibility can be used effectively in estate planning, through providing a means or equitably dividing an estate while saving the family farm. For many landowners, a long-term District and thus, continued easement sale eligibility is an attractive option. The maximum the Foundation can pay for an easementis the landowner’s asking price or the dif ference between the agricultural use value and fair market value of the land, as appraised, whichever is lower. Voluntary applications for easement sale will be con sidered every year in each county on the basis of competitive bids; a process in which easements to be acquired will be selected in accord with local priorities and a State formula. The sale of an easement results in compensation for the loss of development and why and told what use would be made of each tree cut. David Kramer of Conrad Noyes and Henry Ramsey Weiser won this contest with ■ finished sixth and seventh John Bastian also of Conrad respectively with Mike Weiser second; Martin Jones of Kutztown eighth, Miller of Twin Valley and Brett Strough of Twin finished third, Kerry Valley ninth. m The small metal hoop on a lamp that supports the shade is called a harp. rights; an attractive option for many Maryland far mland owners. Funds for easement acquisition are now 'available. To be eligible to sell an easement in Fiscal Year 1980 (beginning July 1, 1979) landowners must have an Agricultural Preser vation District established by July and an Application to Sell an Easement submitted no later than July 31,1979. Funds available include $2 million plus revenues and appropriations resulting from actions of the General Assembly this year. At this writing it is estimated that the major bill passed will contribute an additional $3- $4 million to the Agricultural Land" Preservation Fund, substantially from existing tax revenue sources. In addition, a number of counties have made sub stantial commitments for local matching funds for easement acquisitions. Further information can be obtained from the specific County Agriculture Preservation Advisory Boards or the Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation, Maryland Department of Agriculture, Parole Plaza Office Building, Annapolis, M