Hartford Business Journal

14 Hartford Business Journal • November 16, 2015 www.HartfordBusiness.com may bow to development pressure and sell their lands for new houses and business parks. Meantime, state farm and dairy owners who voluntarily participate in the preservation program hail its value in making it cheaper for new and existing growers to buy land, while providing a liquidity portal for aging farmers eager to retire or relay their legacy farms to their heirs or a new generation of growers. "The goal is to have this land available for agricultural production forever, into perpe- tuity,'' said state Agriculture Commissioner Steven K. Reviczky. "We're not anti-develop- ment. There's no way we can protect all the farmland. We're just trying to protect the critical mass of good farmland.'' Connecticut, along with New York and Massachusetts, Reviczky said, were among the earliest Northeast states to realize they were losing large swaths of their "prime and unique'' farming soils to development of housing subdivisions, apartments, commer- cial office buildings and industrial parks, among other nonagricultural development. So, Connecticut lawmakers enacted legis- lation in 1978 authorizing the state's agricul- ture agency to apply state bond money each year to purchase development rights from farmers willing to sell them, up to a maxi- mum 130,000 acres. Since then, the state has shelled out $136.5 million to purchase devel- opment rights to 41,500 acres, according to ag agency spokesman Steve Jensen. So far this year, Connecticut has paid $5.5 million for development rights to at least eight farms. In 2014, it shelled out $4.2 mil- lion, and $2.7 million in 2013, Jensen said. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natu- ral Resources Conservation Service (NRCS; for- merly the Soil Conservation Service) regularly partners with Connecticut and other states in their farmland-preservation efforts. NRCS provides cost-sharing assistance to states that want to acquire farmland development rights, said Jeremy Stone, NRCS agricultural lands easement manager in Washington D.C. The federal government's own efforts to assist with farmland preservation launched in 1996, in response to an alarming rapid loss of other states' best arable soils to housing and commercial development, Stone said. However, the 2014 federal farm bill alloca- tion for funding states' purchases of farmland development rights, also known as development easements, is about half that contained in the 2008 farm bill, said Kim Burns, NRCS director of easements. From $410 million in 2014, the pur- chase allocation is $425 million for 2015; $450 million for 2016; and $500 million in 2017; and $250 million in 2018, according to NRCS data. The peak allocation for 2017 reflects, NRCS officials say, the long lead times and cyclical- ity of easement purchases, anticipating most deals that states are negotiating today with farmers will close two years from now. "The anticipation is that we will have enrolled a number of easements and so the focus will be on closing those easements … ,'' Stone said. Reviczky says Connecticut has partnered with NRCS only on its largest farm deals, so any federal funding curtailment shouldn't be a near- term problem. Battling bureaucracy Just as Connecticut does, NRCS, too, scru- tinizes each farmer's application to sell their development rights to taxpayers, Stone said. If they meet state and federal eligibility criteria, then state ag overseers launch into the ardu- ous, lengthy process of determining the value of the development rights for individual farms. The state's appraisers calculate two val- ues for eligible farms: One is the pure value of the land for farming; the other is the value of the acreage for nonagricultural develop- ment. It's that difference between the two that comprises the value of the development rights, which the state typically will agree to pay a farmowner to prevent its future sale for commercial development. A number of factors can complicate or slow the appraisal process, including when in the growing cycle land surveyors can get onto farm sites to verify boundaries. Neighbors encroaching on farmlands, or other intru- sions or title flaws, too, slow the verification process, officials say. That's why, Reviczky says, it can take as long as two years or more from the time a farmer files an application to sell his rights to the time the state closes on the purchase and remits payment to the landowner. However long it takes, some farmers don't mind the delays. Indeed, they say the true value of the state's farm-preservation pro- gram is that it exists. "It's a voluntary program. That's the key to its acceptance,'' said Henry Talmage, execu- tive director of the Connecticut Farm Bureau, a Windsor nonprofit devoted to preservation. "Not everyone wants to preserve their farm. But everybody agrees it's a good option for farmers.'' There is, too, a wider benefit to taxpayers, some of whom fear suburban sprawl, spur- ring the need for more town police and fire protection and schools, Talmage said. "The public gets the assurance that land will stay undeveloped and used as farmland,'' he said. "That goes into the whole public-value proposition of this. Cows don't go to school.'' One farmer's take Lebanon farmer Robin Chesmer leased his first 80 acres in 1989 before later acquir- ing them, largely due to the state's preserva- tion efforts. He has since expanded his Gray- wall Farms to more than 900 acres, buying farmland made more affordable because the development rights were stripped away. "We're a product of the Connecticut farm- preservation program,'' Chesmer said. Three times, he says, he has sold develop- ment rights to portions of his farm, plowing the proceeds he collected from the state into purchasing more land on which he raises more than 650 milking cows, as well as grow- ing feed grasses and silage corn. Chesmer says the prospect of a slowdown in the state's pace of farmland easement deals is counterbalanced by being able to participate and shield his legacy for his heirs. "You'd like to see it go a little faster, but all in all, it's worth it,'' said Chesmer, who says he's awaiting payment from the state's latest acceptance of his easement application. "We feel it's a valuable tool … I'm willing to be patient to work with it.'' n from page 1 Farmers hail efforts to save livelihoods CT's Farmland Preservation Investment Since 1978, Connecticut taxpayers have spent $136,464,644 to acquire development rights to 41,500 acres of farmland. The state's most recent annual spend: 2013 - $2,699,935 for 345 acres 2014 - $4,162,975 for 817 acres 2015 - $5,448,301 for 1,008 acres 2011 was its peak development- rights expenditure — $11,922,998 1986 was its peak purchase of development-rights acreage — 2,814 acres totaling $4,295,963 S O U R C E : C T D E P A R T M E N T O F A G R I C U L T U R E IN BRIEF Dunn to retire from United Way; successor named After more than a quarter century of service to United Way, president and CEO Susan B. Dunn has announced her plans to retire in March 2016 from the United Way of Central and Northeastern Connecticut. She was the first woman to lead the organiza- tion since its found- ing in 1924 and only the fifth staff leader in its 90-year history. Paula Gilberto, senior vice president, will become presi- dent and CEO after Dunn's departure in March 2016. Gilberto joined United Way in March 1998 as vice president, commu- nity services overseeing the organization's nonprofit resource and volunteer centers. In January 2007 she was named senior vice president expanding her responsibilities in resource development, community engagement and development of community initiatives. Dunn joined United Way in 1990 as commu- nications director. In November 2006, the board of directors named her president and CEO after the sudden death of George Bahamonde. Over the course of her United Way career, Dunn was responsible for the annual fundrais- ing effort, raising 69 percent of the $938 million raised since 1924 to benefit the local community. During her tenure as president and CEO, she saw the highest amount raised in any year — $28 million in 2008. "I leave the organization with a sense of pride in the way our United Way has changed over time to meet the 21st century needs of our community and our donors. I am proud that our United Way has put a stake in the ground around children's success in school and family financial stability while continuing to support a safety net of services," said Dunn. UConn unveils ambitious knee regeneration research The University of Connecticut announced last week the launch of its new grand research challenge: regeneration of a human knee with- in 7 years, and an entire limb within 15 years. The major international research undertaking is called The HEAL Project: Hartford Engi- neering a Limb. According to UConn, it is the brainchild of UConn Health's Cato T. Laurencin, a leading surgeon-scientist in orthopaedic surgery, engi- neering and the new field of regenerative engi- neering. His laboratory research successes include the growth of bone and knee ligaments. For the project, Laurencin is teaming with other tissue engineering, regenerative medi- cine, and bioengineering experts dedicated to the mission of advancing the fields and devel- oping future therapies for patients living with musculoskeletal defects or who have limb injury or loss. "The launch of the HEAL Project is a transformative moment for science and medicine," said Laurencin. "This is the first international effort ever for knee and limb engineer - ing. The time is now to pursue this much needed super, grand challenge to benefit those patients suffer- ing from debilitating knee injuries, osteoarthri- tis, or affected by the devastating effects of limb injury or loss." The HEAL Project's launch is supported by Laurencin's recent $4 million Pioneer Award from the National Institutes of Health for his research in regenerative engineering, as well as his grant award from the National Science Foundation for Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation. Laurencin serves as director of The Institute for Regenerative Engineering and the Albert and Wilda Van Dusen Distinguished Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at UConn Health. Murphy's 'Buy American' amendment moves to president The U.S. Senate passed the National Defense Authorization Act of 2016 last week, which included Sen. Chris Murphy's "Buy American" amendment requiring new trans- parency when the Department of Defense tries to use loopholes to get around purchas- ing goods made in America. The defense bill now heads to President Obama for his signature. "By opening up tank-sized loopholes in the Buy American Act, the Pentagon is sending taxpayer money overseas instead of support- ing businesses here in the United States," said Murphy. "I will continue working to ensure that the pressure to buy American never lets up." The bill also made significant investments in Connecticut's critical defense manufactur- ing industry, Murphy said. It includes over $7 billion to build the next generation of subma- rines made by Electric Boat in Groton, $12.2 bil- lion for the Joint Strike Fighters with engines built by Pratt & Whitney in Middletown, and $2.6 billion for Blackhawk helicopters built by Sikorsky in Stratford, Murphy said. n Susan B. Dunn, president and CEO, United Way of Central and Northeastern Connecticut Cato T. Laurencin, The HEAL Project: Hartford Engineering a Limb, UConn Health

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