Maryland Agricultural Land
Preservation Foundation (MALPF)
Maryland pioneered statewide purchase of development rights (PDR), also known as buying conservation easements, in the late 1970's with the Maryland Agricultural Preservation Foundation (MALPF). A precursor to the State's Smart Growth Initiative, the MALPF Program has laid the groundwork for the emergence of a number of new easement purchase programs in Maryland.
MALPF was created in 1977 by the Maryland General Assembly specifically to preserve productive agricultural land and woodland to provide for the continued production of food and fiber for all citizens of the State. Farmland protection is was also intended to help curb the random expansion of urban development and protect agricultural land and woodland as open space land.
In its almost twenty-five years of buying development rights from farm and woodland owners in almost every county in Maryland, the MALPF Program has permanently protected over 208,000 acres of working landscape. At the same time, it has injected millions of dollars into family farm operations and helped a generation of landowners and their advisors become familiar with the conditions and mechanisms of conservation easements. If MALPF's accomplishments are combined with those of the local county programs, Maryland has protected more farmland than any other state in the nation, both in absolute acreage and as percentage of total farmland. This is further augmented by the newer Rural Legacy Program.
The MALPF Program, which is administered by a designated person in each county, protects land in two ways 1) short-term with an agricultural district, and 2) permanently with an agricultural easement. For landowners wanting to permanently protect their land, this means a two-phase process.
An agricultural district is the minimum protected status that MALPF provides for eligible land. The owner commits to keep the land in agricultural use for at least five-years and a District Agreement is recorded in the county land records restricting the subdivision and preventing commercial, industrial, or residential development during the term. In exchange, farm and forestry production is recognized as the preferred use of the property by the county and the State, helping to insulate normal agricultural activities from nuisance complaints. Many jurisdictions provide additional property tax benefits for District properties. Most importantly, once an Agricultural Land Preservation District is established, the landowner is eligible to apply to sell a permanent easement to MALPF.
Nearly 200,000 acres are currently under district protection.
To meet minimum eligibility requirements the applicant property must:
- Be at least 50 acres in size unless contiguous to an existing agricultural district or easement.
- Contain at least 50% Class I, II, or III USDA Soil capability and or woodland suitability Group I and II.
- Have a Soil Conservation and Water Quality Plan (and a Forest Management Plan if more than half of the property is woodland).
- Be approved by the local governing body of the county where the property is located
An agricultural easement is placed on an agricultural district if the landowner chooses this permanent protection. With high demand to sell easements and limited State funding, the process to sell easements is competitive. Two factors are important in whether a property owner receives an offer from the MALPF program. Each county prioritizes its applicants and ranks the top 80% of applicants for submission to the State. In the meantime the landowner has stated an asking price for the easement. Appraisals are conducted and the asking price versus the easement value of each applicant property generates a discount ratio. The more the landowner discounts his or her asking price from the calculated easement value, the more favorable the discount ratio. This easement value is based on the following formula:
Appraised Fair
Market Value
|
(less) |
Agricultural
Value
|
(equals) |
Easement
Value
|
| (determined by the better of at least two appraisals contracted by the State and the appraisal submitted by the landowner if included with the application) |
(determined by a formula that calculates a land rent based on the soil productivity OR the 5-year average cash rent in the county, whichever is lower) |
When available funds are distributed to the participating counties (by legislative formula) decisions about purchase offers to applicants are made based on county ranking and then by the discount ratio most favorable to the state. This process can take up a year or a year and half to complete.
MALPF and GreenPrint - 25% of GreenPrint funding is used to purchase easements on land in MALPF districts. These offers are currently made to applicants to the regular easement program who did not receive offers from the regular program. Their property is evaluated using GreenPrint criteria, and offers are made based on this comparative evaluation until the available GreenPrint funding is exhausted. Offers using this funding require agreement to a perpetual easement (no 25-year "out" option) and a recognition by the landowner of the environmentally sensitive characteristics of the property.
The Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Program (MALPF) has a website at http://www.malpf.info.
|
