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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2001
Our View
&
Support VAVP
Preserving our farmland is in
everyone's best interests
One of the better ideas to come out of the Virginia General Assembly this session is the proposal to establish a statewide Office of Farmland Preservation, and we hope that this legislation — part of the Virginia Agricultural Vitality Program — easily passes both houses.
The budget amendments that would provide the $8.2 million recommended for VAVP funding, and an additional $200,000 for the Virginia Farm Link Network have been introduced by Sen. Ed Houck (D17th) and Sen Emmett Hanger (R-24th).
The main activities of the Office of Farmland Preservation would be to assist localities in setting up guidelines for purchasing development rights, and to help young people enter the agriculture industry and those who are retiring from it.
Of course, programs like this don't come without a cost to taxpayers, but the small amount that would be added to our tax bill to fund these programs will help preserve the farmland and open spaces that make our area unique.
Politicians who have taken a no new taxes" stand — including Gov. Jim Gilmore and our delegate, Jay Katzen (R-31st) — should carefully consider the benefits that these budget amendments would provide their rural constituents — and act accordingly. To oppose the VAVP is false economy.
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