The Office of Farmland Preservation (OFP) of the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) has announced the initial allocation of money generated by the sale of Virginia Agriculture license plates. For every “Farming Since 1614” plate sold, $15 of the annual fee goes to support efforts by OFP to preserve Virginia agriculture for the future. Since the introduction of the plate in 2004, sales have generated more than $62,000.
OFP used $15,300 of the license plate funds to support a wide range of Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE) workshops and programs designed to help Virginia farm families and their service providers develop and implement plans to transition farms and farming operations to the next generation. An additional $5,190 was awarded to VCE for three seminars and workshops that focus on building communication among family members as well as increasing the ability of service providers such as attorneys, financial planners and Extension agents to assist families with transition issues.
According to Todd P. Haymore, VDACS Commissioner, “The average age of Virginia farmers is 57+ years. So we expect that in the next ten years, a large number of farms will transfer to the next generation. However, a farm transfer involves much more than estate planning. It represents the key to the survival of the Virginia agricultural industry and the families who depend on it for their livelihood. I endorse the use of funds generated by the sale of Virginia Agriculture license plates to help farm families develop and implement transition plans that will keep Virginia farms in agricultural production and help maintain agriculture as Virginia’s largest industry.”
Programs funded by the license plate sales include these:
• Introductory one-day workshops to increase the awareness of the entire farm family to the need to plan for the future of their farm business;
• Detailed hands-on workshops to instruct primary farm business managers and families in all aspects of transferring the farm business to the next generation;
• One-day in-service training for VCE agents to increase their knowledge and skills to better educate farm families about the need to plan for the farm business transition;
• One-day workshop to provide continuing legal education and continuing professional education credits for lawyers and Certified Public Accountants on how the legal and accounting professions can serve the needs of multi-generational farm businesses.
Find additional information about farmland preservation on the VDACS Web site at http://www.vdacs.virginia.gov/preservation/index.shtml.
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