The Joint Finance Committee of the Wisconsin State Legislature has recently concluded a series of public hearings concerning the entire state budget. Several of the budget items address the recommendations of the Working Lands Initiative and need to be retained as proposed in Gov. Doyle’s proposed budget.
I have been a resident of the town of Jackson, located south of West Bend in Washington County since 1988. My township, not unlike other southern Wisconsin communities near metropolitan areas, has a recent past based on agriculture. Despite the recent economic downturn, my township still remains under pressures for rapid housing development and the pressures to take prime agricultural lands out of production.
I have recently served as a town supervisor, a member of the town park and planning commission and presently serve as chairman of a 14-member citizens advisory committee working to develop a comprehensive land use plan in cooperation with the village of Jackson. As a past elected official, I have participated in numerous meetings and have listened to considerable comments and opinions regarding land use.
One comment that I will never forget came from a town official who said, “People need to realize that agriculture in Washington County is dead.” While there is no doubt that the number of dairy farms has been greatly reduced, different forms of agriculture have emerged, such as green landscape-related industries, increased row cropping and more market growers. According to a 2004 study conducted by the University of Wisconsin Extension, agriculture pumps $629.9 million and provides 5,000 agricultural jobs in Washington County. Agriculture in the county is not dead, however, as with the rest of Wisconsin, it is changing and is in need of newer updated policies that aid rather than hinder agriculture’s profitability.
I applaud the inclusion in to the 2009-2011 state budget provisions for the updating of the current Farmland Preservation Program. The Farmland Preservation Program was established in the 1970s and is long overdue for revisions.
The purchase of agricultural conservation easement grant program with funding of $12 million is another extremely important provision. The PACE fund would provide a cost-sharing spark to initiate voluntary farmland protection between local governments, nonprofit conservation organizations and willing sellers. Similar programs to PACE, which include purchase of development rights, have been operating very successfully for years in many Eastern states. In Sheboygan County a program on the north branch of the Milwaukee River utilizes voluntary easements from willing sellers and has been well-received with local farmers.
It is also important for Wisconsin to have large unfragmented areas that are devoted to farming. Large tracts allow for more efficient farming with less conflict. The inclusion of voluntary enterprise areas under the budget will help to address the loss of contiguous farms and forested areas. In much the same way businesses are often encouraged to develop in designated areas, farmers, too, need tax credits and incentives to keep contiguous productive working lands intact.
Wisconsin agricultural and forested lands add numerous benefits to our state. In a time when change is rapid, there is a need for new and innovative policies that help to ensure the economic viability of those lands. I encourage the Joint Finance Committee to retain and support the Working Lands Initiative within the 2009-2011 proposed state budget.
Robert A. Retko
Town of Jackson
