Farm Preservation

IS THERE AN apparent contradiction in Carroll County's goals of promoting farmland preservation and of rezoning agricultural land for industrial use? Between paying for permanent agricultural-use easements, while easing the way for small subdivisions to be built over rural acreage?And how will these objectives fit in with the state's new Rural Legacy plan to protect more privately owned open space (beyond farmland) through purchase of easements?These are difficult questions in crafting the future of the county's land use. The ability to apply common sense is what is needed most, not a rigid, tunnel-vision approach that creates more problems than it solves.

A decision by the Baltimore County government shifting $2 million from its agricultural preservation program to school construction will be a setback to the effort to save the dwindling supply of farmland from development."

The money available to save farmland this year is less than expected, state officials said yesterday, adding new urgency to the quest to reform Maryland's agricultural land preservation program.The state will have $7.8 million to offer farmers for development rights, about $1 million less than expected, Paul W. Scheidt, executive director of the Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation, told the group's trustees at a meeting in Annapolis.Much of the shortfall results from lower-than-expected agriculture transfer taxes, which are collected when farms are sold.

MARYLAND HAS been a pioneer in farmland preservation. Its 146,500 acres protected since 1980 is more than double any other state, and its $128 million investment in agricultural easements is one-fifth of the U.S. total.So a story last week that Howard County was running out of money to continue purchasing development rights from farmers set off alarm bells. That, coupled with reports out of Carroll County about legislative mischief to ease development of farmland, was enough to stir speculation that Maryland was about to lead farm preservation on its way down.

Some Howard County farmers are following the lead of the Amish, abandoning modern, $125,000 air-conditioned combines for draft horses and antique tractors, grain binders and threshers.But they're not exactly calling modern-day farming wimpy. They're just revving up the old equipment for the 50th anniversary of the Howard County Fair.On the opening day of the fair, which runs Aug. 12 to 19, the Howard County Antique Farm Machinery Club will display its collections and demonstrate how grain was harvested before World War II.The 40 members of the club,formed in January, search the countryside for antique equipment.

Harford County has just made another Top Ten list -- being ranked 10th in the nation in farmland acres preserved by easements.Harford has protected nearly 7,000 acres under Maryland's 12-year-old program, and is poised to add 1,100 more acres in the next few months under its new county program. That high standing may come as a surprise to the prophets of development doom who foresee Harford agricultural fields covered over by waves of concrete and asphalt. After all, the county enacted a 1 percent real estate transfer tax only this year to begin its farm easements program.

Howard County's newly revived farm preservation program hit the ground running, with an advisory board's recent recommendation to buy development rights from all 10 property owners who wish to sell.Among the tracts to be acquired is a real prize, the 723-acre Holly House Farm near West Friendship. It's the largest property ever considered for the program.The county government has $11.5 million in its preservation fund -- an amount deemed more than enough to purchase the properties. If County Executive Charles Ecker agrees to make the offers and the owners accept, 1,910 acres of county land would be saved in perpetuity from development.

The county's farm preservation program got a roaring kick-start last night as its advisory board recommended making offers to buy development rights from all 10 property owners who wanted them.And among the properties the Agricultural Land Preservation Advisory Board recommended for approval was the largest ever to be considered for inclusion in the program. The nine members of the Beck family who own the 723-acre Holly House Farm, between Triadelphia and Folly Quarter roads near West Friendship, would be offered nearly $4.8 million to for their development rights.

Cartoon's Brush Was Too BroadOn March 21, an editorial cartoon ran in The Sun for Howard County regarding Howard County redistricting. The drawing was a Caucasian boy trying to explain the reasons why the Centennial district should not be redistricted to Wilde Lake; the boy was unable to defend his reasoning.Behind the boy was a mass of nondescript figures casting a look of scorn upon a befuddled Afro-American boy. The cartoon more than hinted that the reason members of the Centennial district didn't want to be redistricted was because of discrimination.