VLT Local Farm Project Guidelines

VLT seeks to conserve farms that contribute to the economy, heritage or character of a community or that demonstrate innovative agricultural enterprises. Local Farms are generally smaller operations whose land resource does not meet the minimum criteria described in VLT’s Statewide Farm Project Guidelines. The conservation of farms that are pursued largely for non-agricultural reasons, or which do not meet the soils, configuration and infrastructure requirements outlined below, should be evaluated under VLT’s Community Project Guidelines.

I. Local Farm Project Categories -- Local Farms will consist of one of the following four project types, listed in priority order.

1. Community Farms -- Farms that have a direct operational or connection with their communities, such as a community-supported agricultural (CSA), farm stand or farms that strongly contribute to a community’s definition of itself (for example, a farm at the entrance to a village).

2. Innovative Farms -- Farms that are innovative in their management and operation, demonstrate cutting edge agriculture, or offer other significant benefits to the broader Vermont agricultural economy or community. Completed projects in this category have included a dairy sheep center, rotational grazing operations, an organic milk bottling operation, and a combined vegetable/dairy farm.

3. Local Economy Farms -- Farms that are critical to a community’s farm economy because either:

a. The project would conserve a single operation which is part of a block of farms and/or farmland in an active farming community. As a group these farms are important to the local economy, are an important element of the town’s identity and together form a critical mass which helps to keep agriculture viable locally.

b. The project would conserve two or more farms, not situated in an active farming community, but which are important to the town’s identify and to the viability of local agriculture.

4. Heritage Farms -- Farms that exemplify Vermont’s farming tradition and help maintain the essential characteristics of the Vermont countryside.

(Note: VLT will focus its Local Economy and Heritage farm investments primarily on farms that are not situated in active agricultural communities populated by farms that have been conserved with Statewide Farm Project funding).

II. Minimum Criteria -- Each project must fulfill the following minimum criteria:

1. The farm must be operating (or have in place a sound plan for getting into operation), and have an agricultural land and soil base, configuration and facilities reasonably adapted to support the existing or planned operation.

• The operating farm need not be economically self-sufficient but it must be actively used for agricultural purposes. In these guidelines, VLT’s definition of a farm is broad. It includes diversified and non-traditional operations.
• The operation must make productive use of the farm’s agricultural soils and facilities.

2. There must be clear, demonstrable enthusiasm from, and partnership with, the local community. Support can be shown in various ways, such as a written community conservation plan (where the project helps fulfill the plan), a written petition, letters of support or official town endorsement. Selectboard approval is not required if community support is otherwise demonstrated. Further, the project must benefit the broad local community, rather than a narrow segment of the residents.

III. Project Enhancements -- The following attributes are not required, but may increase VLT’s interest in undertaking a project:

High Enhancements

1. In addition to agricultural values, the farm has additional resources such as:

• Public recreational access, or;
• Outstanding historic or archeological site or structure, or;
• Significant, outstanding natural, ecological or habitat values.

2. High and preferably diversified financial leverage through local cash contributions or in-kind services.
3. The project includes donated easements on lands adjacent to or near the protected farm, especially if recreational, habitat, and/or agricultural values of the farm are extended to adjacent properties.
4. Bargain sale price for development rights at 75% or less of fair market value.
5. Conservation of the farm has been identified as a high priority through a local planning or ranking process.

Medium Enhancements

1. Bargain sale price for development rights at 90% or less of fair market value.
2. The total expenditure does not exceed $100,000 from major conservation funding sources frequently accessed by VLT, such as VHCB and the Freeman Foundation.
3. The farm is adjacent to other conserved or publicly owned lands, or is within a protected farmland block.
4. Conservation of the farm includes some legal mechanism that maintains its long-term affordability, increasing the likelihood that the farm will continue in active agricultural use and be owned by a farmer.

Low Enhancements

1. The farm uses a significant amount of other agricultural land in town, thereby keeping tillable land and pasture open and productive.
2. The farm is owner-operated, has a plan for the transfer to an owner-operator, or conservation of the farm will create a strong likelihood that such a transfer will occur within a reasonable time.

Rev. July 2001

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