Title: Why Preserve Farmland? : ConservationTools
Headings: Why Preserve Farmland?
Why Preserve Farmland?
Introduction
Farmland Preservation Anchors the Farm Economy
Protects Our National Security
Supports Our Economy
Creates Jobs
Keeps Money in Local Communities
Provides Tax Revenue; Requires Little Government Service
Supports Agritourism
Delivers Ecosystem Goods and Services
Sustains a Tradition
Farmland Preservation Tools

Content: Farms and other open lands unambiguously provide a net fiscal benefit. Owners of agricultural lands pay more in local taxes than government spends in support of those lands and the people who live and work on them. [ 15]
Although agricultural land generates less tax revenue per acre than residential, commercial, or industrial property, it requires fewer public services such as schooling, road maintenance, and policing. The difference means that non-agricultural lands receive more services and pay less in taxes than they could in the absence of agricultural land. According to Cost of Community Service Studies by American Farmland Trust, agricultural lands on average receive only $0.37 in public services for every dollar they contribute; housing developments, on the other hand, receive $1.16 in services for every dollar they contribute. [ 16] Agriculture subsidizes [17] the costs of residential development. [ 18]
Supports Agritourism
The natural beauty of farmland appeals to many people. Agricultural-based tourism (known as agritourism) offers people a chance to interact with farmland in a variety of ways: they might pick their own strawberries in the summer, take a tour of a vineyard, or hold their wedding in a bucolic farm setting.