Ashtabula County's
Farmland Preservation Plan has been developed by the Farmland Preservation Committee
and adopted by the Ashtabula County Commissioners by resolution. The
Farmland Preservation Plan will be incorporated into the County's Comprehensive
Land Use Plan, currently under development. To view the Executive
Summary click here.
December 19, 2000 the Farmland
Preservation David Marrison presenting
Farmland
is officially adopted by the County Commissioners Preservation plan to Commissioners.
by resolution.
Ashtabula County Farmland
Preservation Update
The
Ashtabula County Farmland Preservation Executive Committee has called for a
meeting to be held January 14th, 2004 beginning at 7:00pm. Anyone
interested in the ongoing farmland preservation efforts within Ashtabula County
and Northeastern Ohio are welcome to attend along with the members of the
farmland preservation Committee. The meeting will be held in the
downstairs meeting room of the OSU Extension and SWCD office at 39 Wall
Street in Jefferson.
Update 1-28-04
The
Farmland Preservation Committee met January 14th. The ODA 03' Agricultural
Easement program was reviewed and the 04' details were discussed.
Information is available at ODA's web site.
http://www.ohioagriculture.gov/farmland.stm
The
Ashtabula SWCD office will be providing information for the program and
assisting agricultural producers who are eligible to complete an application on
behalf of the Ashtabula County Commissioners. Presentations were given by
Amalie Lipstrue, Program Coordinatior for the Center for Farmland Preservation
in Northeastern Ohio on regional efforts. Grand River Partners
representative, Chad Kniesly, reviewed the Federal Farmland Protection Program
and the acceptance of the Perry Nye farm into the program. Lee Kellogg,
Farm Bureau President Ashtabula County, share Farm Bureau's recommendation for
an Agricultural Development chapter to added to the County Comprehensive Landuse
Plan. The committee will meet in one year to review the County Farmland
Preservation Plan.
Update 11-24-03
The
first agricultural easement protecting the first farm acreage in Ashtabula
County has been approved. Through the Federal Farmland Protection Program,
administered through the Natural Resources Conservation Service, application was
made by the Grand River Partners, Inc. on behalf of the Perry Nye Farm in
Hartsgrove Twp. The application was accepted on August 29, 2003.
Over the next several months the details of official establishing the
agricultural easement will begin. Local matching funds are required for
the program and it is believed the Ashtabula County Commissioners, with the
endorsement of the Ashtabula County Farmland Preservation Committee, will be
providing the matching funds.
Update 7-25-03
Ohio Agriculture Easements 03' Announced by ODA'
Agriculture
Easement applications submitted from Ashtabula County did not rank high enough
on ODA's list to qualify for the program. Visit the Ohio Department of
Agriculture's web site for news releases and complete listing of rankings for
all applications.
http://www.state.oh.us/agr/Farm-index.htm
Update 5-16-03
Ohio Agriculture Easement Purchase Program 03’ Ashtabula County
The
Ashtabula SWCD, on behalf of the Ashtabula County Commissioners, assisted
agricultural producers with pre-scoring and completing applications for the Ag.
Easement program. Four applications were completed and considered
competitive with others applications being submitted from across the
state. On April 24th, the County Commissioners pasted a resolution
supporting the submittal of the four applications and formally submitted the
applications to the ODA for consideration. The Grand River Partnership is
submitting an application to the Federal Farmland Preservation Program for an
agricultural producer who application is also being submitted to the ODA
Program.
The
Ashtabula County Commissioners will be acting as the local applicant for
agricultural producers in Ashtabula County interested in applying to the Ohio
Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Easement program for 03’.
The Ohio Agricultural Easement Purchase Program will be administered
through the Ashtabula Soil and Water Conservation District on behalf of the
Ashtabula County Commissioners.
Applications
must be submitted to the Ohio Department of Agriculture by April 30, 2003.
Interested agricultural producers should contact the Ashtabula SWCD to
receive an application packet. The
Ashtabula SWCD will assist the landowner in completing the application.
The application, with required documentation and
signatures, must be completed by April 16, 2003.
The County Commissioners, the following week, will adopt a resolution
stating support for the application(s). Agricultural
producers desiring to submit an application should begin the process by March
17, 2003.
In an effort to be
efficient and productive with time devoted to completing applications on behalf
of agricultural producers for ODA consideration, the applicants will be
pre-scored at the local level. The
Ashtabula SWCD and the landowner will complete Tier #1 of the Ranking Criteria
of the application. The applicant’s score must total 50 points or more to have
the application process completed in its entirety and submitted to ODA.
Those receiving less than 50 points will not be completed nor submitted
to ODA. ODA in 02’ established a
threshold of 60 points for their review process.
Please contact Jim
Welker at the Ashtabula Soil and Water Conservation District Office in Jefferson
for further information. The SWCD
is located at 39 Wall Street in Jefferson.
Phone 440-475-4946
E-mail ashtswcd@suite224.net
Copies of the application and ranking system
can be obtained also at ODA's web site Additional information is available
via the internet at the Clean Ohio Fund, Ohio Department of Agriculture, Office
of Farmland Preservation site:
Update 2-12-03
Ohio Department
of Agriculture announced applications are now available for participation in the
Agricultural Easement Program for 2003. The second round announcement,
application, ranking system and deed of agricultural easement can be download
from ODA's web site:
http://www.ohioagriculture.gov/farmland.stm
Information is also available from the Soil and Water Conservation District
Office. An information meeting sponsored by ODA is being held February
13th at the Parkman Township Community House in Geauga County. Meeting
times are 3:00pm-5:00pm and 6:30pm-8:30pm. ODA will present an overview of
the AEP program, discuss changes made for the current round of applications and
answer questions. New this year will be a points-based appraisal system
that will allow landowners to calculate their potential easement values before
submitting an application. Applications and informational packets will be
available to attendees. Landowners, county commissioners, township
trustees, county planners and land trust are encouraged to attend.
The Ashtabula County
Farmland Preservation Committee is scheduled to meet on February 19th at 7:00pm
in the meeting room at 39 Wall Street in Jefferson to discuss ODA's program and
farmland preservation goals.
Update
12-18-02
Ohio Agriculture
Easement Purchase Program 03’ Ashtabula County
The
Ashtabula County Commissioners will be acting as the local applicant for
agricultural producers in Ashtabula County interested in applying to the Ohio
Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Easement program for 03’.
The Ohio Agricultural Easement Purchase Program will be administered
through the Ashtabula Soil and Water Conservation District on behalf of the
Ashtabula County Commissioners. Applications
must be submitted to the Ohio Department of Agriculture by April 30, 2003.
Interested agricultural producers should contact the Ashtabula SWCD to
receive an application packet. The
Ashtabula SWCD will assist the landowner in completing the application.
The application, with required documentation and
signatures, must be completed by April 16, 2003.
The County Commissioners, the following week, will adopt a resolution
stating support for the application. Agricultural
producers desiring to submit an application should begin the process by March
17, 2003.
In
an effort to be efficient and productive with time devoted to completing
applications on behalf of agricultural producers for ODA consideration, the
applicants will be pre-scored at the local level.
The Ashtabula SWCD and the landowner will complete Tier #1 of the Ranking
Criteria of the application.
The applicant’s score must total 50 points or more to have the
application process completed in its entirety and submitted to ODA.
Those receiving less than 50 points will not be completed nor submitted
to ODA. ODA
in 02’ established a threshold of 60 points for their review process.
Please
contact Jim Welker at the Ashtabula Soil and Water Conservation District Office
in Jefferson for further information.
The SWCD is located at 39 Wall Street in Jefferson.
Phone 440-475-4946
E-mail ashtswcd@suite224.net
Additional
information is available via the internet at the Clean Ohio Fund, Ohio
Department of Agriculture, Office of Farmland Preservation site:
http://www.ohioagriculture.gov/farmland.stm
Update 10-23-02
Official notification has been
received on September 23, 2002 from the ODA indicating the applications
submitted for the Farmland Preservation Program from Ashtabula County were not
accepted at this time. ODA received 442 applications totaling 63,193 acres
offered for protection. At an estimated $2,000 /acre, more than $126
million would be required to purchase all the acreage submitted. The
AEPP's portion of the Clean Ohio Fund is $6.25 million per year. ODA also
received an additional $1.5 million grant from the UDSA/NRCS's Federal Farmland
Protection Program. An application was submitted by the Grand River
Partnership to the Federal Farmland Protection Program on behalf of a Hartsgrove
Twp. 400+ acre farm, but was not accepted as NRCS granted the funds to the ODA
program.
Update 7-10-02
The Ashtabula County Farmland Preservation Committee recently met in
November. The committee has established an Executive Committee consisting
of five members. The Executive Committee has been delegated the task of
moving forward with the goals of the Farmland Preservation Committee. The
entire committee will be scheduling meetings to move forward with farmland
preservations within the county. The immediate goals of the Executive
Committee are to seek out parties interested in the upcoming Ohio Department of
Agriculture's Agricultural Easement Program to begin in 2002 and to provide
leadership for this effort. Applications for ODA's program are anticipated
to be available the beginning of 2002, with application deadline midyear.
The ODA has scheduled workshops throughout Ohio for both groups and individual
landowners interested in the program. Workshop schedules are listed in the
following link. ODA Ag.
Easement Workshops
Information and updates on ODA's Agricultural Easement Program is available
at their web site.
Ohio Department of
Agriculture Farmland Preservation Office
For an overview of Ohio's Agricultural Easement Purchase Program click
here.
ODA will be presenting a workshop detailing the Agricultural Easement Program
for interested landowners on January 22nd, 7-9:00pm at Holden Arboretum in
Kirtland, Ohio. Click for details.
Anyone Ashtabula County Agricultural Producers interested in participating in
ODA's Agricultural Easement Program or farmland preservation efforts in
Ashtabula County can contact David Marrison, OSU Ag/Natural Resource Agent
576-9008 or Jim Welker, Ashtabula Soil and Water Conservation District
576-4946.
Update!!!
3-19-02 Reed Stanbro, Farmland
Preservation Consultant, will be assisting agricultural producers interested in
beginning the application process on behalf of the Ashtabula County
Commissioners. The deadline for submitting applications is April 30,
2002. Mr. Stanbro can be contacted at the Ashtabula Soil & Water
Conservation District Office. He will be available two days a week until
the deadline date to assist with the applications. Please schedule an
appointment with Mr. Stanbro if you are interested in ODA's Agricultural
Easement Program. The Farmland Preservation Committee will be assisting
Mr. Stanbro with the application process. The Ashtabula County
Commissioners will provide the 25% local match in the amount of $100,000 for each
of the four years of the program.
Update!!! 5-9-02
Seventeen applications have been completed and forward to ODA before the April
30th deadline. The applications represented approximately 3,200
agricultural acres in Ashtabula County. ODA have indicated they have
received over 400 applications statewide. Hopefully within 45-90 days
applicants accepted into the program will be notified. The applications
could not have been completed by the deadline without the assistance of Reed
Stanbor hired as a Farmland Preservation consultant by the Ashtabula County
Commissioners. Our office continues to receive calls from agricultural
producers interested in the program. We anticipate applications being
taken again in the beginning of 2003.
Update!!!
7-10-02 ODA has announced they have completed ranking the 422
applications submitted. The applications represent 63,000 acres in 49
counties. Unfortunately none of the 17 applications submitted from Ashtabula
County qualified for the second round ranking. ODA has posted the ranking
results on their web page. Link to Clean
Ohio Fund With the anticipated adoption of the proposed County
Comprehensive Land Use Plan this fall, applications can be resubmitted for next
year to the program and each application will score an additional 10 points.
The Grand River Partners are submitting an application for a Hartsgrove Twp.
Farm to the Federal Farmland Protection Program administered by the Natural
Resources Conservation Service. Over 400 acres
of farmland will be preserved is the application is accepted.
