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(Continued from Page 1) new highway construction.
SI Billion Ag Industry Jim Brownell, Loudoun Supervisor and dairy farmer and also vice-president of the State Board of Agriculture and Commerce, noted that agriculture is the largest industry in the state with gross farm sales of over SI billion. He reported that 30 million acres of farm land were lost throughout the U.S. between 1967 and 1975. In Virginia, 80,000 acres of productive crop land disappear annually, he added. According to Brownell, farm land must be preserved to protect irreplacable natural resources, ensure food production, provide the esthetic relief of "good ol' country living," provide for recreation and wildlife habitat, protect watersheds and act as a buffer between growing communities.
In addition, he noted that agriculture and forest land acts to collect air pollutants.
Brownell suggested that the delegates at the public hearing recommend to the General Assembly that it form a study committee to investigate how to preserve agriculture and how to fund preservation efforts.
State Senator Charles Waddell, sponsor of the most recent amendments to the land use tax law, stated that it would be beneficial to close the loop holes in the law that allow landowners who clearly intend to develop their property to qualify for use value taxation.
However, he added that "without land use taxation, as we now know it, farming
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