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community, and to a noble inheritance.
Generating a viable land ethic will take time. In the meantime, the speculators and quick-buck artists could make the whole issue superfluous. In the meantime, there are things that can be done, to preserve agriculture and make it possible for farmers to hold on, make a fair return on labor and capital expended, and pass on acres which are as good or better than what they started with.
Governor Godwin signed into law this week one possible aid—a law allowing voluntary formation in Virginia of agricultural districts. While Virginia’s version of a law that has been widely applied in New York State was watered down by an unsympathetic State Senate, it still contains elements that could be utilized to blunt the taxation and development pressures that are forcing so many farmers in this area to call it quits.
Land use tax relief is already legal in Virginia, and the day may be rapidly approaching when Rappahannock will see fit to adopt this measure, as one more means of reducing the pressures on farmers, orchardists and foresters, all who make their living by caring for the land.
Neighboring Fauquier County officials are toying with another possible means— the establishment of essentially non-residential agricultural areas. As one of their planning commission members has rightly pointed out, allowing two or three or five acre housing plots in agricultural zones is not the way to save farming. So why not establish zones in which the only residential construction allowed would be for farm owners or tenants? Their legal advisor says it can be done, under existing Virginia laws. It is an interesting proposal.
PERHAPS some other approach would be more appropriate to Rappahannock. There are many more things that can be done by our elected supervisors than they would sometimes have the voters believe. All it takes is political courage, motivated by a genuine
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