Testimony of Marion Long Bowlan

Executive Director and family farmer

Pennsylvania Farm Link

2708 A North Colebrook Road

Manheim, PA 17545

Phone: 717-664-7077

Also past member of the National Commission on Small Farms and current member of the USDA Small Farm Advisory Committee

Good morning! Let me begin by giving you some background information on myself. I am a third generation Lancaster County farmer with experience in beef and vegetable production. We sell our hormone and antibiotic free beef directly to consumers. I am also the Executive Director of Pennsylvania Farm Link a non-profit organization that works with beginning and retiring farmers to create more farming opportunities in Pennsylvania.

I want to talk to you about both my professional and personal experience and some recommendations I have for farmland preservation programs. I would like to discuss the very human problems that currently are not addressed by this program.

The mission of Pennsylvania Farm Link's work with beginning and retiring farmers is to keep farmers actively farming the land. We provide regional seminars on passing the farm on to the next generation, new and beginning farmer workshops, and marketing workshops that are targeted to improving the farmer's bottom line. We also operate a linking service that matches farm owners with people who want to get into farming. Although we are a small agency we have been successful in making a difference in the lives of many farmers by getting them to realize they need to plan for the future of their families and their farms.

What I have encountered in my professional work is that the critical time for a farm to go out of farming is when the existing farmer is thinking about retirement or is retired. Particularly if the children do not want to take over the farm or if there are siblings who don't agree on what should happen to the farm, the farm is vulnerable. Let me explain.

I recently worked with a family who had two sons that were interested in farming. Both had off farm jobs and were helping their parents in their spare time. The parents were retirement age, but couldn't afford to move off the farm so that their sons could take over. I suggested that they preserve their farm and use the sale of the conservation easement for their retirement needs. The family applied for farmland preservation funds, but is not at the top of the list because of soil types and proximity to other development.

I am not disputing these factors and agree that soil types and development proximity are important considerations. What I would like you to consider is the human element. Is there an individual who wants to take over the farm? Could we preserve this farm if we took into account the family circumstances? Is there a farm succession plan? Do we have a beginning farmer who wants to farm the land? These farms are businesses that are run by human beings and we need to take in to account those human needs. Unfortunately, these human issues currently receive little or no consideration in selecting the farms being preserved. I contend that they should.

A recent Penn State study indicates that of all the farmland sold in Southeastern Pennsylvania in the last ten years only 23% remained in agriculture. This is occurring in spite of the best farmland preservation program in the nation. And, I might add that there has been a 7-10 year waiting list in Lancaster County to sell development rights. Additional funding is an issue. The interest in preservation is there, at least in Pennsylvania, but often so is the temptation to sell the farm to developers.

However, I would also contend that increasing funding for preservation programs is not the only issue. With the family I just discussed, what will happen? The family cannot afford to move off the farm and retire unless they sell the farm. Even though they want to give their sons the opportunity to farm, they may decide to sell the farm at market value because in the long run that may be what's best for their family. If we have the opportunity to get the next generation on the farm, how do we help? Everyone agrees we want our farmland to be used and be productive. The intention of the program is to preserve farmland and not just open space. How do we decide who will be our next generation of farmers?

That brings into focus a big problem that we face in years to come. In the nation we have three times as many farmers over 65 as under 35. Recent Census of Agriculture statistics indicate that farmers under the age of 35 decreasing an alarming 46.4% from 1987 to 1997. Today's slim profit margins make it very difficult for a new generation of farmers to get started. How are we going to help?

One of the ways we can help is to tie farmland preservation efforts into farm succession efforts. Why don't we provide incentive to farm families to transition their farm to a new generation of farmers, related or not, by giving them extra points for developing an active farm succession plan? This would give an extra boost to the family I just mentioned and would put them higher up on the waiting list for preservation. It just may save the farm for this family and others like them. As we all know we make decisions based on our own family circumstances. The independent farmers of this nation need your help in securing a new generation of farmers who can establish productive, profitable livelihoods and retain our most precious resource, our farmland.

I also want to talk about my own individual situation. Largely through the efforts of my mother, my husband and I were able to purchase the farm that came down through her family. We have farmed it for the last twelve years, taking off farm jobs to provide the economic security our family needs. We have two children; at least one is interested in farming. We decided to try to preserve our farm seven years ago and have been on the waiting list since then. This year because of an extra infusion of farmland preservation funds, some federal, Lancaster County is working on their backlog of applicants. We may yet see our farm preserved! Either my son or my daughter will get the opportunity and if they don't want it some other young enterprising individual will. What three generations have worked to protect while deriving income from it will go on. What better legacy can you leave behind?

I have also worked to try to get my siblings to agree to preserve the land my father and mother farmed for 55 years and where he still lives; my mother died four years ago. Some of my siblings want the money they could get from the sale of the farm at its market value, some want to see it stay a farm. My father feels caught in the middle and doesn't want to decide.

How do we assist families with these decisions? These are big once in a lifetime decisions. How can we help families make these decisions about farmland protection? Certainly providing educational assistance and farm succession planning assistance, similar to what Pennsylvania Farm Link does in its "Passing on the Farm" seminars helps. We need your financial support as well. Pennsylvania Farm Link and other linking programs across the country work with families to transition their farms to the next generation. We know that farms need farmers to farm them. Help us help those farm families put the pieces together so that they can transition their farm to the next generation and generations to come.