American Dream

Price of Md. farmland is sixth in U.S.

Rapidly rising values seen as threat to future of agriculture in state

By Ted Shelsby
Sun Staff

August 15, 2005

Quotes:

Dairy cows and other livestock in Maryland graze on the sixth-most-expensive farmland in the country, according to a survey released last week by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Fueled by the red-hot market for development, the average price of an acre of Maryland farmland, including farm buildings, is up nearly 38.6 percent from last year, to $7,900 an acre.

That increase compares with a rise of 11 percent for farmland in the contiguous 48 states - the biggest gain in nearly a quarter of a century.

"It's a scary situation," said state Agriculture Secretary Lewis R. Riley. "It is a major threat to the future of farming in the state."

As Riley was quick to point out, "these prices are for land that stays in farming. If a farmer sells his land for development, the
prices they get are incredible."

The USDA survey on land values was based on farmland being sold as farmland. "In Maryland, that is becoming increasingly hard to find," said Jeanne McCarthy-Kersey, deputy director of the USDA's statistics service for Maryland.

When the land stays in farming, she said, it is often the case of "a millionaire buying a farm on the Eastern Shore and building an estate. He doesn't want to be a farmer, but he wants cornfields around the property to create a buffer, so he rents the property to farm neighbors looking to expand.

"This way he can sit on his porch and look out on the
cornfields."

In neighboring Delaware, farmland value jumped 40 percent this year to $8,400 an acre. Rhode Island leads the nation with farmland selling for $11,200 an acre, followed by Connecticut at $10,800 and Massachusetts at $10,300.

The agriculture secretary said the trend also threatens the ability of the state and the counties to acquire property for agricultural land preservation, a program that seeks to maintain the open space and the picturesque landscapes that add to the quality of life.

"We have $50 million for ag-land preservation this year," he said. "That includes state, county and some federal dollars. Land prices have shot up so much that [that] money won't buy as much as it once did."

He said changes are needed to reverse this trend.

"We have got to find ways to help farmers," Riley said. "We have got to make farming more profitable. That's how we are going to keep our farms. Right now, the incentive for them to sell out is too great."

McCarthy-Kersey quoted the most recent census figures that show the changing face of agriculture in Maryland.

"Forty-three percent of the farmers in Maryland don't count farming as their primary occupation," she said. "They are lawyers or plumbers or some other occupation, who like living on a farm."

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