Allen and Ann Powers already knew they lived in one of the best places
in rural America. What they didn't know is how long it would stay that
way.
Just a little more than an hour from Atlanta and just across the river
from the bustling college town of Athens, Ga., is Oconee County. It's
one of the smallest counties in a state of small counties, but it has
become a popular place to move.
Rural areas that suddenly become real estate hot spots must deal with
all the trappings of suburbia—strip malls, subdivisions, new
infrastructures, etc. Sometimes the money flashed by developers looks
good to landowners.
"I work with farmers every day, and I see the types of decisions that
get made," says Russ Page, a farmer in Oconee County who also owns
Reproductive Progress, a cattle repro business. "When a farmer
decides to sell the farm, it's a permanent decision. And land prices
are so high, farmers can't buy land to farm it," he explains.
Page's passion—aside from being a farmer—is preserving the right to
farm. That's why he helped start the Oconee Partnership for Farmland
Protection (OPFP). "We wanted to help the farmer against encroaching
subdivisions and other factors that might put him out of business," says
Page.
Enter Allen and Ann Powers. Ann and her siblings inherited 300 acres
from her side of the family, the Breedloves. Allen and Ann had been
renting out the pastures to other farmers. "One renter didn't take care
of the land," says Ann. "It was eroded and in terrible shape."
The couple decided to get the land into shape, and called on the USDA
and Farm Service Agency for help. They signed up for the Conservation
Reserve Program, which helped them plant trees and fence livestock out
of waterways and ponds.
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| A 15-year enrollment in CRP helped the Powers restore ponds and waterways.
| This barn and the farmhouse had to be left out of the easement.
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The easement allows no structures on the protected property. |
But while CRP couldn't keep the development away, a new Georgia state
program called Greenspace could. The program gives money back to
counties to keep at least 20% of the total landmass in green space. But
the county must meet one of two criteria: at least 60,000 in population
or growth of 800 people a year. Oconee met the second requirement, but
the money from the state wasn't going to be enough to preserve any land
in a county where land values were soaring.
"The county gave the partnership the money it got from the state as seed
money," says Page, who stepped in to help the Powers preserve 57 acres
by purchasing development rights to the property.
Buying the difference. "Allen and I had two different appraisals done,
one for farming and one for development. The difference in the two
figures is the cost of development rights," says Ann. Once they held
development rights, an ag conservation easement could be placed on the
property to prevent any structures from being built there. The Powers
retain ownership, but use of the land is limited—for them and for anyone
they or their descendants sell it to—by what's outlined in the easement.
"It can be farmed, plowed and planted," says Ann. "That's it."
Money from the Greenspace program, along with matching funds from USDA
and the family, made purchase of the development rights possible. The
USDA paid 50% of the cost, the county's Greenspace funds from the Oconee
Partnership for Farmland Protection accounted for 25%, and the family
paid the other 25%. The Breedlove-Powers farm was the first in Georgia
to use state, federal and personal funds to preserve farmland.
Such a concerted effort takes a huge commitment from the landowner, but
the land is important to Allen and Ann. "Allen and I were living in
Atlanta when we got married, and we moved back here when our daughter
was six weeks old," she says. "We wanted our children to grow up here."
Their children did grow up on the farm, and still have an affinity for
it. Their son is studying ag in college, and may one day return to the
land the family worked to preserve.
OPFP continues to work on preserving family farms in Oconee. A new
governor has made changes to the Greenspace program since the
partnership received funds from it, but Page says the Breedlove-Powers
farm is a model others can follow.
"The county remains committed to doing more of this," explains Page. He
says private citizens have made donations to OPFP, and he is leading a
petition and letter-writing campaign to make sure the state government
continues to help with funding.
The work isn't done for Allen and Ann. They just protested a rezoning
request that would have divided land right next to their protected green
space into 1-acre lots. They won the first battle, getting a 75-foot
buffer between their land and the development. It's frustrating, often
time-consuming work, but leaving a legacy of land—one that can never be
taken away—is worth the effort.