SB 623

Under current law, the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer

Protection (DATCP) administers the Farmland Preservation Program, which

contains some of the requirements that a farmer must meet to qualify for the

farmland preservation tax credit. The Farmland Preservation Program includes

farmland preservation planning, farmland preservation zoning, farmland

preservation agreements, and soil and water conservation requirements. Under

current law, for a farmer to qualify for the farmland preservation tax credit, the farm

must be in a farmland preservation zoning district or be covered by a farmland

preservation agreement executed by DATCP. A farmland preservation agreement

generally requires a farmer to keep the land covered by the agreement in agricultural

use for the term of the agreement.

The 2009-11 biennial budget act,

2009 Wisconsin Act 28

, made numerous

changes in the Farmland Preservation Program. The changes took effect on July 1,

2009. Current law, as modified by that act, prohibits DATCP from entering into a

new farmland preservation agreement unless the land to be covered by the

agreement is in an agricultural enterprise area, designated by DATCP. DATCP may

only designate an area if it receives a petition requesting the designation filed by

each political subdivision in which any part of the area is located and by the owners

of at least five farms that would be eligible for coverage by farmland preservation

agreements. As of December 1, 2009, DATCP had not designated any agricultural

enterprise areas.

This bill requires DATCP to process applications for farmland preservation

agreements that were submitted before July 1, 2009, using the laws that were in

effect before that date. The requirement that covered land be in an agricultural

enterprise area would, therefore, not apply to these applications.