 |
 |
 |
 |
||
 |
 |
|||
 |
||||
 |
||||
 |
||||
10-29-2004 |
|
|
The West Virginia Agricultural Land Protection Authority Board of Trustees held its first meeting October 20, 2004 , at the Gus R. Douglass Agricultural Complex at Guthrie. Governor Bob Wise recently appointed the first members of the Authority, who are charged with securing funding for voluntary farmland protection easements and providing technical expertise to county farmland protection boards. "I'm very happy to see the members of this board together for the first time," said Commissioner of Agriculture Gus R. Douglass . "Farmland is a precious commodity. Not only does it provide the food that we all eat, but it also provides the green spaces that are the envy of so many residents of other areas." Commissioner Douglass also noted that farmland protection makes America more secure by ensuring that agricultural production does not become over-centralized and more vulnerable to bio-terror attacks. Although the meeting was organizational in nature, much of the discussion focused on finding sources of funding to match federal dollars allocated for farmland protection. Farmers choosing to participate in the voluntary program receive the value of their land if it were developed and, in return, sign an easement that forbids commercial development of the land. Nearly a quarter of West Virginia is farmland that produces $450 million in economic benefit to the state annually, but the state has lost 100,000 acres of its farmland since1998. The next meeting will be held January 18, 2005 in Beckley . Members of the Authority are: • Boyd Meadows, Marion County , Division of Natural Resources representative Farm representatives of the Authority are: • Boyd Meadows, Cabell County Other agencies and organizations involved with the Authority are: • U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resource Conservation Service (USDA-NRCS) The West Virginia Department of Agriculture protects plant, animal and human health through a variety of scientific, regulatory and consumer protection programs, as mandated by state law. The Commissioner of Agriculture is one of six statewide elected officials in West Virginia. Currently, Commissioner Gus R. Douglass is the longest-serving agriculture commissioner in the nation. For more information, visit www.wvagriculture.org. |
|
|
|
|
©2001, 2002 West Virginia Department of Agriculture, All Rights Reserved |
|
|
Contact the Webmaster
|
|
|
|