Preserving Our Agricultural Heritage
Several state and county programs ensure that farming will remain a dominant feature of Washington County
By Beth Volmer
For Jeremiah Weddle, farming is in his blood. Relatives going back at least to his great grandparents have been farming in Washington County. His parents started Creek Bound Farm in 1980 doing most of the labor by hand. They grew the farm into the 4,500 acres that the family manages today.
But as development progresses in Washington County, what does the land hold for future generations of his family and others who have also worked land in the county for generations? Will it be there for their descendants?
The simple answer is yes. Thanks to local and state programs, more and more land in Washington County is being preserved for agriculture and protected, at least for many years and for as long as any farming family wants, from development.
“For my family, we’re making a living off farming the land so the more land that’s going to stay in agriculture the more opportunity for my family and other families,” says Weddle. “And for future generations, that land will be here for them to do that on.”
Under several different programs, 1,339 properties totaling 39,748 acres have been declared permanent agricultural easements. Another 167 properties on 33,856 acres are in the 10-year Agricultural District program, and there is another 36,064 acres of parkland preserved in the county.
As National Agriculture Day approaches on March 19, more farmers with more land are applying for these programs, which provide tax incentives for not developing their land or selling to developers. That’s not to say these programs are trying to eliminate development. Instead, they are trying to carefully manage growth in an intelligent way by preserving land in rural areas.
One of those programs is the Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Program, known as MALPP. Weddle, who now owns the farm he grew up on, preserves his family heritage through this program.
“We have three farms in MALPP now, and a fourth that will be preserved by the end of the year,” Weddle says. He intends to keep his family farms exactly that—family farms.
For the general public, these programs are a check on development. Like any jurisdiction, Washington County needs to grow and attract more residents to expand the tax base and increase funds for public programs and infrastructure. But the goal is to keep Washington County tied to its agricultural roots.
“In Washington County, we have zoning districts,” says Chris Boggs, rural preservation administrator for Washington County since 2012. “The zoning districts do not prohibit development of any parcel of land, but they do restrict the extent to which a parcel can be subdivided.”
The Ag-Rural designation (AR) restricts development density to one house for every five acres. Environmental Conservation (EC) restricts it to one house for every 20 acres, and the Preservation zoning restricts development to one house for every 30 acres.
But the land preservation programs eliminate any use of those allotted development rights, and landowners are compensated for the sale of those development rights. The programs vary widely based on the type of farm and what the land is currently used for.
Chris Boggs is the rural preservation administrator for Washington County and helps farm families protect their land. All other images of Creek Bound Farms.
The Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Program is geared more toward high-intensity production agriculture like heavy grain operations, dairies, and orchards. The Rural Legacy program takes into account not only the agricultural qualities of the farm, but also the historic and environmental aspects. The Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program is more of an environmental conservation easement program. It allows agricultural operations but limits the amount of disturbance that can occur on the ground. For example, tilling is prohibited in order to curb stormwater runoff into nearby waterways.
Maryland Environmental Trust easements run the gamut and can be tailored to different uses or characteristics, depending on the conservation values of the property. The Installment Payment Program piggybacks off the MALPP ranking system, so farms tend to be more production centered.
The Next Generation Farmland Acquisition Program is different as it functions as a sort of first-time farm buyer program. However, the end game of the Next Gen is for the property to be enrolled in another permanent easement program that fits best with what the property is being used for.
Dick Stoner of Stoner Family Farms, LLC, farms 120 acres of land backing up to the Potomac River that his parents started farming in 1964. His father along with a partner eventually owned more than 1,000 acres in Washington County from the 1970s to early 2000s.His father’s death in 1997 and his partner’s death in 2008 put pressure on the family to make tough choices.
Stoner and his family sold some of the land but agreed their farm and the natural areas along the river needed to remain farms because of its good pasture and crop fields. The family will keep the land operating as a farm and are proud to be part of a community who are committed to Washington County’s economy.
They also own two other agricultural land parcels, not in the priority ag areas but are still actively farmed. They would welcome permanent land preservation on their agricultural land, but many factors involved could dictate how land use changes in the future.
As a family, the Stoners believe locally produced food is important and everyone should be able to visit and enjoy the open space that farms provide.
For Weddle, he studied agronomy in college and discovered Hagerstown’s silt loam soil is one of the most productive farming soils in the country. His passion for growing crops drew him back to the family farm and spurred him to preserve his land.
Still, he wonders if future descendants will stand on South Mountain like he occasionally does and look out over their valley and be grateful it is protected from commercial and residential developments. His family’s preservation of their farms is a great decision, and he feels the preservation program is the best investment they can make.
Agricultural Preservation Programs
The Washington County Agricultural Land Preservation District Program began in the early 1980s. It is a district agreement with the landowner that the county won’t develop the land for 10 years and the landowner will receive property tax credits on county property taxes. For those 10 years, the property must be used agriculturally and can only be subdivided into family lots. After that, the landowner either terminates the ag district or signs a five-year renewal with a program called The Stepping Stones, which gives the landowner the incentive to keep their farm in preservation while waiting for a permanent easement through a different program.
The Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Program receives funds from the Maryland Department of Agriculture’s Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation (MALPF). It started in 1980 and gets about 30 applicants each year. The program focuses on extremely productive agricultural lands, with more than 15,000 acres of the county farms enrolled.
The Rural Legacy Program is funded by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Unlike other programs, there is no minimum acreage requirement. Started in 1998, this program looks at historic and environmental qualities of the farm along with agriculture.
The Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program began in 2009 with 2,000 acres under easements with an emphasis on natural resources and stream buffering. Tree or grass buffers are planted around streams to absorb groundwater pollutants in stormwater runoff. Landowners are paid yearly rental payments to use the stream buffers for 12 to 15 years with payments of $4,800 per acre, depending on the width and acreage and depending on the size of the buffer.