Farm Bill Reauthorization
Historic Preservation and the Farm Bill
It took a year and half of negotiations, but on June 18th, the $289 billion Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 became law (H.R. 6124, HRpt 110-627, Public Law 110-246) after both chambers of Congress easily overrode the President's veto.
The new law enhances already existing rural historic preservation language and adds new proposals to further support preservation of our nation's rural heritage.
The National Trust is pleased that Members of Congress included language to protect rural heritage. This action illustrates that Congress understands how historic preservation in rural communities benefits everyone—no matter where they live. Communities that are seeking to protect historic agricultural landscapes from development will have additional conservation tools. Rural areas that are experiencing job loss and population decline will have new incentive programs to help foster heritage-based rural development activities, from Main Street revitalization to heritage tourism. Urban and suburban residents also benefit from the protection of historic rural landscapes and communities--as travelers to rural places, they appreciate and learn from the historic sites, landscapes and communities that they visit. They also enjoy the distinctive foods, arts and other goods that are produced in rural areas.
The Farm Bill is reauthorized every 5 years. This time around, controversy over funding levels coupled with disagreements about commodity reform resulted in a longer than expected reauthorization process. While Congress, farm groups and the White House battled over a new bill, numerous extensions of 2002 Farm Bill were necessary until the final bill was passed in mid-2008—close to a year overdue.
The 2008 Farm Law is divided into fifteen titles. Historic preservation provisions are included in 3 titles: Title II (Conservation), Title VI (Rural Development) and Title XV (Trade and Tax Provisions). The following important historic preservation initiatives are included in the 2008 Farm Law:
Rural Heritage
Included in the Rural Development title is the Rural Collaborative Investment Program (RCIP), which is designed to, among other things, "provide regions with a flexible investment vehicle…to achieve measurable community and economic prosperity, growth and sustainability." This provides local officials, business leaders and community representatives' incentives to work together regionally and across program sectors while also further promoting the work of USDA's Rural Development programs. The Rural Collaborative Investment Program is authorized for $135 million over 5 years.
RCIP establishes a National Rural Investment Board to provide advice to the USDA Secretary and to Regional Rural Investment Boards. These are multijurisdictional and must include a representative of, among other things, "non-profit community-based development organization." The boards are responsible for reviewing applications for the Regional Innovation Grants Program which provides grants "for use in implementing projects and initiatives that are identified" in other sections of the RCIP program. A Regional Board may receive up to $6 million during any 5 year period for the Regional Innovation Grants Program.
A preference is given to an application proposing projects and initiatives that "protect and promote rural heritage." In addition, one of the purposes of the grant is "to preserve and promote rural heritage."
According to the RCIP definitions section, "In general, the term 'rural heritage' means historic sites, structures, and districts. The term 'rural heritage' includes historic rural downtown areas and main streets, neighborhoods, farmsteads, scenic and historic trails, heritage areas, and historic landscapes."
The rural heritage language in the new Farm Bill reflects the National Trust for Historic Preservation's recent experience in two rural pilot project funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Projects in the Arkansas Delta and Central Kentucky Heartland are demonstrating the community and economic benefits of heritage-based rural development approaches.
Having secured this important language in the new Farm Bill, we now need to make sure that this important program receives adequate funding. Our efforts will now shift to working with the House and Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittees to get appropriations funding needed to encourage rural communities to put into practice rural heritage based, sustainable economic development projects.
Farmland Protection Program and Grasslands Reserves
The Farmland Protection Program provides matching funding to state programs that pay for the purchase of development rights on lands that continue to be used for agriculture. The new Farm Bill retains language from the previous bill that allows these funds to be used for the purpose of protecting farmlands that contain historic buildings and archeological sites. The Farmland Protection Program has successfully kept many farms in agricultural use near the borders of national parks, Civil War battlefields, ancient Indian mounds and important archeological sites. The program is administered by USDA's Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC), and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). The 2008 Farm Law increases authorization for the FRPP from $97 million to $200 million over 5 years.
Significantly, the new Farm Bill expands this protection by adding identical language to the Grassland Reserve Program, which according to the USDA is "a voluntary program for landowners to protect, restore, and enhance grasslands on their property." This provides an additional tool to protect historic resources on privately owned grasslands throughout the United States. The Grasslands Protection Program is administered by the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Farm Service Agency (FSA) and Forest Service.
For a farmer to obtain an easement under either program, he or she should first contact a local, state or national easement holding organization to work with the farmer to revalue the land under an easement (which normally lowers the land value--in some cases, by 50%). The USDA contributes half of the monetary value the famer or rancher loses and the state and conservation groups will contribute the remainder of the value. In many cases, the farmer will then contribute some of the cost as a tax deduction.
Historic Barns
The Historic Barn Preservation Program was first authorized "for such sums as necessary…" in the 2002 Farm Bill for the USDA to provide grants to eligible applicants to:
- "assist States in developing a list of and collect information about historic barns…" ;
- "foster education programs relating to the history…of barns"; and
- "Sponsor and conduct research on the history of barns and…best practices to protect and rehabilitate historic barns…"
Eligible projects include:
- "to rehabilitate, repair a historic barn";
- "to preserve a historic barn…"; and
- "to identify, document, and conduct research on a historic barn…"
Eligible applicants include:
- "a State department of agriculture…";
- "a national or State nonprofit organization that…has experience or expertise…in protection of historic barns."; and
- "a State historic preservation office."
This year, the program is reauthorized for such sums as necessary in the Rural Development title with emphasis on funds for barn inventory surveys. Funds for this program have not been appropriated since the 2002 Farm Bill, but we will work closely with our partners to support efforts to secure appropriations for this program. These efforts will be informed by new information being gathered regarding the number and location of historic barns that is being collected through the recent USDA Census of Agriculture.
Conservation Easements
The Farm Bill extends by two years the special provisions allowing landowners to deduct up to 50% of their gross income for contributions of real property for conservation purposes (100% for qualified farmers). The voluntary use of conservation easements has long been recognized as an effective preservation tool. We look forward to working with our partners to permanently extend this successful conservation easement donation incentive to protect rural historic resources, including open farmland near historic sites and battlefields.
Next Steps
The 2008 Farm Law is now undergoing the regulatory review process at the United States Department of Agriculture. Once the law is finalized, you may learn more about and/or participate in the programs that include historic preservation provisions by contacting your USDA field office.
