Clark County No. 1 for farmland preservation


Clean Ohio easements in Clark County

27: Farms, including one donated farm, with easements

7,028: Total acres of preserved farmland in Clark County

$6.6 million: Dollars paid to Clark County landowners for farmland preservation

Easements through other funding sources

16: Number of farms preserved

2,675: Acres of farmland preserved

$3.3 million: Dollars paid to landowners

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Clark County is expected to become No. 1 county for farms preserved in Ohio by the end of the year, surpassing Fulton County.

The Tecumseh Land Trust has preserved 26 farms and about 7,000 agricultural acres from development and has requested easements for 11 more farms from state and federal preservation programs.

Agriculture and food production contributes $105 billion to the state’s economy and employs one in seven Ohioans, according to the state.

Denise King, executive director of Farmland Preservation at the Ohio Department of Agriculture, lauded the Tecumseh Land Trust for its efforts to create a strong interest in the Clean Ohio farmland preservation program in Clark County.

“Both the landowners and the elected officials see the farmland preservation program as creating a stable base for Ohio’s No. 1 industry, which is food and agriculture, and they want to pass on that way of life and that job opportunity to their children,” she said.

Clean Ohio, which was approved by voters in 2008, funds the Local Agricultural Easement Preservation Purchase Program. That then pays landowners who volunteer to sell an agricultural easement to the state.

Easements ensure the land will permanently remain in agricultural production under private ownership.

Krista Magaw, executive director of the Tecumseh Land Trust, was unaware Clark County would surpass Fulton County this year.

“That’s exciting. We just tipped the scales I guess,” Magaw said.

The land trust, which serves both Clark and Greene counties, is now in its 25th year. Magaw has been with the nonprofit for 13 years and has seen interest in farmland preservation grow.

“In our area agriculture is very vital and people are aware of how important it is. Even our job growth and development that TruPoint is doing, the STEM school is focused on agriculture. There’s a reason that happened in Clark County — because people really see the bigger picture of agricultural business,” she said.

Farmers who participate can get a combination of funding and tax deductions, Magaw said. With the Clean Ohio program, farmland owners can get in the range of $1,000 an acre.

But many landowners sign up because of a love for their farms and agriculture.

“They want to keep farming. They plan to keep farming or if they are planning on selling they want to make sure their farm stays a farm. This is a good way that they can get some value out of the farm without selling it, without taking it out of agriculture,” Magaw said.

Farmers are often discouraged when they see rural development where a lot of land gets wasted, she said, especially if that land then grows into weeds.

“They get really discouraged by that,” she said. “It’s a nice alternative for people who really value the land and value agriculture and its importance in Clark County.”

Clark County Commissioner John Detrick recently received an Ohio Farmland Preservation Ambassador Award from the state department of agriculture for nine years of service with Clean Ohio and his advocacy of preserving productive farms.

He’s now part of “an elite assembly recognized for protecting one of our state’s most valuable resources, which maintains the state’s most important history, food and agriculture,” said John Schlichter, deputy director of the Ohio Department of Agriculture.

Whitehall Farms in Clark County was the first farm in Ohio to be part of the farmland preservation in the late 1990s, Detrick said.

The farm was in danger of being subdivided or auctioned off, he said, but state and local officials partnered with Greene County to preserve it.

Since then the state program has given farmers who participated tax credits and millions of dollars, he said.

“Because of the Tecumseh Land Trust, we’ve had an outstanding lead here and it’s exciting to be a part of this,” Detrick said.

The land trust works with local governments and applies for funding for properties that aren’t close to public water, sewer or freeway interchanges and prime for development, Magaw said.

Don and Peggy Grigorinko of South Charleston have applied to preserve their 90-acre property. It’s surrounded by other protected farmland.

Peggy Grigorinko said they want to protect their farm for their family and to prevent it from losing value.

“I don’t think people realize how important agricultural land is to just our well being and the future potential for food production,” Peggy Grigorinko said. “Secondarily, I think it’s also the value of having plants, having the environmental of having large chunks of undeveloped non-cemented land that’s very important for the future, even as far as environmental issue and commercial products. It’s being eaten up very quickly. I think in the future there will be a crisis having land that’s not developed.”

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