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said. It would try to educate the public about the value of fanning to the community and to educate farmers about such matters as inheritance law.
Bryant Lee, a young farmer in the county and a member of the School Board, talked about the value of land use taxation in helping the farmer stay in farming. All of the farmer’s expenses have gone up without an increase in the price he can get for his crops, he said.
He talked of going to a sale of farm equipment in Fauquier County, where the farmer had sold out because he could no longer afford to farm his land. “Every time you do away with a farm, you do away with that much food,” he said. “Than ground will never be farmed again.”
Even if the law tax rate goes to an owner who does not farm, he will be able to rent his land to a farmer for less, he said. “Farming is becoming big business. It is real high tech. We need everything we can get to help on expenses.”
Finally County Administrator John McCarthy talked about land use taxation from the point of view of the county government. He told those in attendance that decisions on continuing or modifying land use taxation would be made as a part of the reassessment process that is just beginning.
“It is fundamentally a political problem,” he said. In the past those in a political positions had farming backgrounds, he said. That is not necessarily so now. “More and more people who don’t qualify for land use taxation are moving into Rappahannock County.”
Mr. McCarthy predicted they will tend to vote for representatives “who will not be bent to do everything they can for farming. The decision with this general reassessment is vital,” he said.
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