Oconee County Goes Forward With Farmland Program Despite Losing $175,000 In Federal Funds

Oconee County is going forward with the process of identifying and selecting farms for a farmland protection program even though there is no federal money to make the program work.

The local office of the United States Department of Agriculture, which administers the federal program, in July turned back $175,000 in federal funds that were available to the county for farmland protection this year, saying that the county “opted not to put a farm forward” for 2013 funding.

The federal Farm Bill, which historically has included funding for farmland protection, is stalled in Congress. Even if it were to pass, funding is likely to be delayed for at least a year.

The county has notified farmers that they have until Oct. 31 to submit an application for funds from the program, but the county historically has funded only about 25 percent of the costs, with the federal government contributing half and the owner contributing 25 percent.

At present, no one in the county is taking responsibility for having made the decision not to put a farm forward this year so the county could obtain the $175,000 that was available to it for the farmland program.

For more on this story, go to Oconee County Observations.