Delaware News

DDA Reminds Farmers of Preservation District Enrollment Deadline

Department of Agriculture | News | Date Posted: Wednesday, October 25, 2023


Combine offloading corn into a grain hopper attached to another tractor in the middle of a corn field being harvested.

DOVER, Del. (October 25, 2023) – The Delaware Department of Agriculture reminds any farmers who have yet to enroll their property as a farmland preservation district that October 31, 2023, is the deadline to be eligible for 2024 preservation funding.

The Delaware Agricultural Lands Preservation Foundation received $10 million to preserve farms in the current fiscal year and voted to extend the district application deadline at their September 2023 meeting. This extension provides extra time to agricultural landowners who are interested in preserving their land. Enrolling as an agricultural district is a 10-year voluntary commitment to continue farming, and land must be enrolled in a district before an owner can sell a permanent preservation easement. Owners who enroll their land may submit an offer to permanently preserve their land as early as next year as part of the Foundation’s Round 28 in 2024. Applications are available online at https://de.gov/aglands.

Delaware farmers interested in preserving their farms should be sure that they meet the following eligibility requirements:

  • Property must be zoned for agriculture and not subject to any major subdivision plan.
  • The property meets the minimum Land Evaluation and Site Assessment (LESA) score of 170. LESA is a process that attempts to estimate the farm’s long-term viability based on the farm’s soil productivity, land use, and agriculture infrastructure on and around the farm. Scores range from 0-300. Aglands program staff calculate the LESA score when applications are received.
  • The property must be working farmland with at least $1,000 in agricultural sales annually and generally have at least 10 acres of cropland.
  • Farms of 200 acres or more constitute an agricultural district.
  • Farms under 200 acres can enter the program if it is within 3 miles of an existing agricultural district. With 1,212 farms already preserved, it is rare that a farm under 200 acres does not meet these criteria.

Entirely forested properties in managed timber production can also enroll in the Forestland Preservation Program, which purchases Forestland Preservation Easements similar to Aglands Preservation.

For more information or to obtain applications related to the Delaware Aglands Preservation Program, interested landowners can visit https://de.gov/aglands or call (302) 698-4530.

The Delaware Agricultural Lands Preservation Foundation’s Board of Trustees includes representatives from agriculture and state agencies. Trustees are Mark Collins, chairman; James G. Vanderwende, vice-chairman; Janice Truitt, treasurer; William H. “Chip” Narvel Jr., secretary; Secretary of Agriculture Michael T. Scuse; State Treasurer Colleen C. Davis; Secretary of Natural Resources and Environmental Control Shawn Garvin; Peter Martin; Theodore P. Bobola Jr.; Robert Emerson; and H. Grier Stayton.

###

image_printPrint

Related Topics:  , , ,


Graphic that represents delaware news on a mobile phone

Keep up to date by receiving a daily digest email, around noon, of current news release posts from state agencies on news.delaware.gov.

Here you can subscribe to future news updates.

DDA Reminds Farmers of Preservation District Enrollment Deadline

Department of Agriculture | News | Date Posted: Wednesday, October 25, 2023


Combine offloading corn into a grain hopper attached to another tractor in the middle of a corn field being harvested.

DOVER, Del. (October 25, 2023) – The Delaware Department of Agriculture reminds any farmers who have yet to enroll their property as a farmland preservation district that October 31, 2023, is the deadline to be eligible for 2024 preservation funding.

The Delaware Agricultural Lands Preservation Foundation received $10 million to preserve farms in the current fiscal year and voted to extend the district application deadline at their September 2023 meeting. This extension provides extra time to agricultural landowners who are interested in preserving their land. Enrolling as an agricultural district is a 10-year voluntary commitment to continue farming, and land must be enrolled in a district before an owner can sell a permanent preservation easement. Owners who enroll their land may submit an offer to permanently preserve their land as early as next year as part of the Foundation’s Round 28 in 2024. Applications are available online at https://de.gov/aglands.

Delaware farmers interested in preserving their farms should be sure that they meet the following eligibility requirements:

  • Property must be zoned for agriculture and not subject to any major subdivision plan.
  • The property meets the minimum Land Evaluation and Site Assessment (LESA) score of 170. LESA is a process that attempts to estimate the farm’s long-term viability based on the farm’s soil productivity, land use, and agriculture infrastructure on and around the farm. Scores range from 0-300. Aglands program staff calculate the LESA score when applications are received.
  • The property must be working farmland with at least $1,000 in agricultural sales annually and generally have at least 10 acres of cropland.
  • Farms of 200 acres or more constitute an agricultural district.
  • Farms under 200 acres can enter the program if it is within 3 miles of an existing agricultural district. With 1,212 farms already preserved, it is rare that a farm under 200 acres does not meet these criteria.

Entirely forested properties in managed timber production can also enroll in the Forestland Preservation Program, which purchases Forestland Preservation Easements similar to Aglands Preservation.

For more information or to obtain applications related to the Delaware Aglands Preservation Program, interested landowners can visit https://de.gov/aglands or call (302) 698-4530.

The Delaware Agricultural Lands Preservation Foundation’s Board of Trustees includes representatives from agriculture and state agencies. Trustees are Mark Collins, chairman; James G. Vanderwende, vice-chairman; Janice Truitt, treasurer; William H. “Chip” Narvel Jr., secretary; Secretary of Agriculture Michael T. Scuse; State Treasurer Colleen C. Davis; Secretary of Natural Resources and Environmental Control Shawn Garvin; Peter Martin; Theodore P. Bobola Jr.; Robert Emerson; and H. Grier Stayton.

###

image_printPrint

Related Topics:  , , ,


Graphic that represents delaware news on a mobile phone

Keep up to date by receiving a daily digest email, around noon, of current news release posts from state agencies on news.delaware.gov.

Here you can subscribe to future news updates.