01-001 C.M.R. ch. 37, § 2 - PREPARING TO ESTABLISH A VOLUNTARY MUNICIPAL FARM SUPPORT PROGRAM

1. Before establishing a Voluntary Municipal Farm Support Program (VMFSP), the municipality must establish eligibility requirements for farmland and farm buildings to qualify for its Program, establish a model agricultural conservation easement, and determine the mechanism for making farm support arrangements and farm support payments in accordance with the following provisions:

A. Eligible Farmland and Farm Buildings

(1) A Voluntary Municipal Farm Support Program must include the following eligibility criteria as Qualified Farmland and Farm Buildings:

(a) Farmland Type. The farmland may be Blueberry Land, Crop Land, Horticultural Land - Edible, Horticultural Land - Ornamental, Orchard Land, Pasture Land, Orchard Land, Woodland, or Wasteland.

(b) Minimum Acreage. The farmland must be one (1) Tax Parcel of at least five (5) contiguous acres that is producing Agricultural Crops.

(c) Farm Income Requirement. The Agricultural Crops grown on the farmland must generate a minimum annual gross income or fair-market value of at least $2,000 per year. The crops may be sold directly on the farm, or sold off of the farm to wholesale and retail customers. If some of the crops are utilized on the farm and/or consumed by the farm household, then the fair-market value of attributable to those products can be counted towards the annual gross income requirement.

(d) Farm Buildings. The Farm Buildings must be used for the propagation, production, storage and/or processing of Agricultural Crops and/or Livestock, including but not limited to, the breeding and housing of Livestock; the storage of seed stock; the storage of feed for Livestock; milk handling; animal manure and waste management; and equipment and chemical storage and maintenance.

(2) Additional Qualified Farmlands and Farm Buildings and Improvements

(a) If there are additional lands and buildings that are associated with the farm's Agricultural Management, but not specifically with the production of Agricultural Crops, a municipality may establish local criteria for such additional lands and buildings to be eligible for the Voluntary Municipal Farm Support Program. Such designations may be made town-wide or occur on a case-by-case basis.

(i) The municipality shall require the landowner to demonstrate that any buildings and land that are not involved in producing Agricultural Crops serve a principal function for the farm operation. Such buildings include but are not limited to shelters for livestock, equipment storage and maintenance structures and energy generation facilities. Such land includes but is not limited to ponds for fresh water aquaculture, riding trails for Agritourism, and sand, clay and gravel mining for building and grading farm roads, woods roads and other such improvements.

(3) Farm Residential Buildings

(a) A municipality may exclude farm residential structures from a farm support arrangement, unless both the municipality and the landowner agree that the inclusion of such structures is essential to the farm's Agricultural Management and Agricultural Enterprise, and to the success of the protection effort, because such structures provide affordable housing in an area that is under intense Development Pressure.

B. Model Agricultural Conservation Easement

(1) A municipality with a Voluntary Municipal Farm Support Program must develop a model temporary agricultural conservation easement that is limited to a term of not less than twenty (20) years, and adopt it as a Qualified Agricultural Conservation Easement. A municipality may utilize a model easement created by the Department of Agriculture, or it may draft its own. The following Conservation Purposes and Conservation Recitals are required and must be included in all temporary agricultural conservation easements drafted by a municipality for use in its Voluntary Municipal Farm Support Program. A municipality may include additional purposes and recitals so long as there is no conflict with the following required language.

(a) Required Conservation Purposes

(i) To provide public benefit by protecting the Protected Property's agricultural soils for the production of food, forage, seed and fiber; and preventing the conversion of farmland to nonagricultural uses that would reduce or destroy the Protected Property's diversified agricultural and forest productivity; and

(ii) To allow the Protected Property to remain available for commercial agricultural and forest management, provided that such activities are consistent with conserving the agricultural soils, agricultural productivity and natural resource values of the Protected Property.

(b) Required Conservation Recitals

(i) WHEREAS, the Grantor is the sole owner in fee simple of certain Qualified Farmland and Farm Buildings that have been approved by the legislative body of the Town of [name of municipality] to enter into a Farm Support Arrangement with the Town of [name of municipality] for a period of not less than twenty (20) years to protect approximately _____acres of working agricultural and forest land, and other significant natural features including [list complete names of brooks, rivers, etc].

(ii) WHEREAS, the Grantor and Holder agree that the Farm Support Arrangement will conserve the productivity of the Agricultural Enterprise and prevent the conversion of the same to nonagricultural uses for a period of not less than twenty (20) years and will confer the following public benefits to the [name of municipality]:

(a) provide a renewable and long-term source of farm and forest products and services;

(b) provide for long-term management of farmland and forest land in accordance with best management practices to prevent erosion, sedimentation and other degradation of soil and water resources;

(c) provide employment opportunities in Maine; and

(d) support investment in local businesses and community services that depend directly upon, or provide ancillary services to, the agricultural and silvicultural industries.

(iii) (if applicable) WHEREAS, the Comprehensive Land Use Plan for [name of municipality] adopted in [year] recognizes the importance of conserving productive farmland and active farms to maintain the [municipality's] agricultural business sector, cultural heritage and rural character.

(iv) WHEREAS, the protection of Agricultural Soils, preservation of agricultural and natural resource based businesses, and maintenance of open space are important to the People of the State of Maine, as evidenced by Article IX Section 8 of the Maine Constitution, and the "Farm and Open Space Tax Law", Title 36 Maine Revised Statutes ("M.R.S."), Section 1101et seq., which confers preferential property tax treatment for active farms and property that owners keep undeveloped and available for open space uses.

(v) WHEREAS, the Qualified Farmland has significant conservation value as open space within the meaning of Section 170(h) (4)(a) (iii) of the Internal Revenue Code, as it includes approximately [number] ( #) acres of open farmland, hay fields, pasture land, crop land, [insert also orchards, cranberry bog, blueberry barrens and other types of cultivated lands as appropriate] and other productive agricultural land and [number] ( #) acres of forested farmland.

(vi) WHEREAS, Holder is a qualified holder under Title 33 M.R.S., Section 476(2)(A) as a "qualified organization" and an "eligible donee" under Internal Revenue Code Section 170(h) (3) and the regulations promulgated thereunder to wit: a governmental entity or a non-profit corporation with the commitment to preserve the conservation values of the Protected Property, authorized by the laws of the State of Maine to accept, hold and administer conservation easements; and it possesses the authority to accept and is willing to accept this Agricultural Conservation Easement under the terms and conditions hereinafter described.

C. Farm Support Arrangement - Payment Mechanism and Easement Monitoring

(1) A municipality with a Voluntary Municipal Farm Support Program shall make Farm Support Arrangements, for no less than twenty (20) years that obligate the municipality to make Farm Support Payments to the grantor of a Qualified Agricultural Conservation Easement on assets the municipality designates as Qualified Farmland and Farm Buildings. Such Farm Support Payments may be up to one hundred percent (100%) of the annual property taxes assessed on the grantor's farmland and farm buildings provided these payments do not exceed the total fair market value of the Qualified Agricultural Conservation Easement. A municipality must establish a mechanism for making such payments. It may assess taxes and deduct the amount of the Farm Support Payment from the property tax bill. It may collect taxes and reimburse the grantor. Or it may develop whatever other mechanism a municipality deems to be feasible.

(2) A municipality with a Voluntary Municipal Farm Support Program must monitor any Qualified Agricultural Conservation Easement it accepts through a Farm Support Arrangement with a farm. This must be accomplished at least every two (2) years. A municipality may utilize a model monitoring form created by the Department of Agriculture, or it may draft its own. A municipal Voluntary Municipal Farm Support Program is not required to report its temporary (20-year) Agricultural Conservation Easement in the State of Maine- Conservation Easement Registry which was created to track the stewardship and monitoring of permanent conservation easements.

Notes

01-001 C.M.R. ch. 37, § 2