Sheppard Family Tour
(Continued from Page ASS) crops grown on Sheppard Farms,
with lettuce, cucumbers, squash,
and efficiency in handling large and asparagus accounting for the
volumes of lettuce are two vacu- most of the remainder.
um coolers, each the size of a Asparagus was a mainstay for
small house trailer. These coolers New Jersey produce farmers
drop the temperature of lettuce until the 1960 s when it was prac
to 36 degrees Farenheit in 20 tically wiped out by disease,
minutes by creating a vacuum Since then, Rutgers University
which greatly increases the rate has developed resistant varieties,
of evaporation of water from the including ‘Jersey Knight,’ the
leaf surfaces. major type of asparagus grown
Bell peppers generate about 60 on about ISO acres at Sheppard
it of th( ih in'*' tf the F
David Sheppard stands by steam engine first owned by
his grandfather, Gilbert Sheppard, in the 19205. The en
gine was used to run a sawmill and steam-sterilize vege
table beds in the greenhouse.
Lancaster
Poured
Wails
• Agriculture
• Commercial • Residential
Call for Prices On:
• NRCS approved Manure Storage Pits
• Basements • Retaining Walls
• Footers • Foundation Walls
Customer Satisfaction Is Our Goal T vV
Lancaster Poured Walls, Inc.
2542 Horseshoe Rd.« Lancaster. PA 17601
• (717) 656-7370 » Fax (717) 656-7350
CONCERNS WITH
FOREST PROPERTY TAXES
IN PENNSYLVANIA
Michael Jacobson
Penn State Forest Resources
Extension Specialist
Although there is a preferential
tax for forestland in Pennsylva
nia, there are concerns about the
program among private forest
landowners, forest industry rep
resentatives, and county officials.
The preferential tax program
commonly known as Clean and
Green bases the assessment on
the land’s ability to produce in
come in its current use, rather
than its fair market value.
The Pennsylvania legislature
created Clean and Green in 1974
with the objective of conserving
farm and forestland by providing
tax incentives for landowners not
to convert their land to other
uses. The program objectives are
especially important in urbaniz
ing counties where development
pressures are high.
The preferential assessment
under Clean and Green is formu
la-based. It uses projected timber
yields, current stumpage prices,
and interest rates to determine
use values for an 80-year timber
rotation. Until recently, landown
ers were less concerned with the
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FREE FARM ASSESSMENT
TeamAg, Inc. has recently ‘TEAMED” with America’s Clean Water Found
ation (ACWF) and Environmental Management Solutions (EMS), in keeping
with our commitment to agriculture.
TeamAg is now helping producers with a FREE farm assessment program.
On-Farm Assessment & Environmental Review (OFAER)
How OFAER works;
• Producer Requested Assessment.
• Producer completes a producer checklist, and sends to EMS.
• A two-person assessor team is assigned.
• An on-farm visit is scheduled and conducted at a convenient time.
• A written report is mailed to the producer four weeks
after the site visit.
• A follow-up may be conducted at a later date.
Assessments are: Comprehensive, Confidential and Voluntary
Producer Benefits:
• OFAER provides producers with a third-party assessment of
potential environmental production site risks.
• Two trained and certified professionals will identify site strengths
and challenges during the on-site visit.
• Practical, low-cost recommendations are suggested using
best management Practices.
For more information about this program and for assistance in your efforts
to enroll your farm into this program:
Contact:
TeamAg, Incorporated
901 Dawn Avenue, Ephrata, PA 17522
717 721-6795
formula’s use values, since
stumpage prices were low and in
terest rates high. Thus, the as
sessed value for forestland re
mained relatively low. However,
in the 19905, low inflation (result
ing in lower interest rates) and
rapidly escalating stumpage
prices drove the Clean and Green
assessments for forestland higher.
Nevertheless, a recent Penn State
study shows only 23 percent of
the landowners surveyed believe
that the Clean and Green assess
ed values are too high.
Currently, landowners enroll
in the voluntary Clean and Green
program only in counties with re
cent reassessments. Many of
Pennsylvania’s 67 counties have
not recently reassessed property
values; so assessed values are
lower than the use values avail
able under Clean and Green.
There were over two million
acres (one-sixth of private forest
land) enrolled in the Clean and
Green program in 2000.
An issue with landowners is
the so-called deferred income
problem. Unlike farmers, many
forest landowners only have tim
ber income from their forestland
once in the lifetime (when they
harvest). However, they pay an
nual property taxes. Calculations
a
B
B
El
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 29, 2002-A37
show that even with the preferen
tial assessment, the compounded
value of the annual tax payments
over an 80 to 100-year rotation is
generally far greater than the
revenues from timber harvests.
Another landowner complaint is
that actual forestland value can
vary quite widely within the same
county. However, the Clean and
Green assessed rate within a
county is the same for all land
owners.
Many tax assessors and com
missioners say that the assessed
values derived from the current
use value formula are too low in
their counties. Traditionally,
property taxes fund schools and
local governments.
One particular concern among
county officials is a recent
amendment to the law. The
amendment allows the land
under a house, known as the
“farmstead,” to be assessed at
Clean and Green rates and count
toward the 10-acre minimum
area. This provision is especially
hard on rural counties where the
fair market valuation for the
“farmstead” acre comprised a
significant portion of their tax
revenues. The provision may also
encourage developers to subdi
vide larger properties into
10-acre “mini-estates” that meet
the size requirements for Clean
and Green, but do not provide
the kind of open space that the
law was intended to protect.
These “mini-estate” owners
could pay considerably less in
property taxes than people who
own lower-value residences on
smaller parcels in the same coun
ty-
As large forestlands are subdi
vided, it often makes forest man
agement more difficult, and
many of the smaller parcels are
essentially removed from the
land base that sup
ports Pennsylvania’s
forest products indus
try.
v
a
B
rr
E
Another point of
contention with Clean
and Green is that the
penalties for with
drawing from the pro
gram are not high
enough compared to
the potential profit
from developing the
land. Many govern
ment officials believe
that the penalties do
little to prevent devel
opers from purchasing
land and enrolling it
in the program until
the time is right to de
velop the property. In
this way, the program
can reduce the cost of
land speculation, po
tentially encouraging
development.
As with any tax,
there are complaints
from all sides: county
officials, landowners,
rural counties, and
urban counties. What
is clear, though, is that
there are issues to ad
dress with the Clean
and Green program
for forestland.
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