Buy high; sell low. That’s the plan. The state with the nation’s most expensive farmland is buying up pricey farms and reselling them to farmers dirt cheap—in an effort to encourage farmers to stay in Rhode Island.
Rhode Island will buy a farm at the full appraised value—taking into account the land’s worth if it were developed. Then—and here’s the surprising part—the state will sell the farm at its agricultural value, or worth solely as a farm. That means a $500,000 farm might go for a measly $100,000! The catch? The land must remain a farm—no high-rise condos or pharmacy chains allowed.
The principle of fairness is woven throughout Jesus’ teachings. The Bible speaks often of just balances, weights, and measures. Rhode Island’s new Farmland Preservation program seems to be more than fair. It’s also highly unusual. In fact, Rhode Island may be the only state buying farmland and reselling at less-than-market price. Officials hope the preservation program keeps young RI entrepreneurs from moving to other states, where land is cheaper. No one knows exactly how many farmers are leaving the state. But officials often hear from the farmers that the high price of RI land is forcing people out.
Sarah Turkus started the Sidewalk Ends Farm with two other young women in a vacant lot in Providence in 2011. But when they wanted to expand, they couldn’t find affordable land in Rhode Island. Now they grow vegetables, herbs, and flowers over the border in Massachusetts. “This program specifically, or a program like it, would probably be the only way I’d ever be able to own farmland in our area because of the cost,” Turkus says.
Interested future farmers must fill out a farm seeker form. Then members of the Farmland Access Consortium help seekers find in-state farmland. Farmers wanting to sell may register with the Farmland Access group too. Some critics say matchmaking with farms and farmers isn’t the role of state government. Glen Cottrell owns a 118-year-old dairy farm that is going out of business. He fears the program is a roundabout way to seize property. “That’s what the communists did,” he comments.
But Ken Ayars, from the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, says the Farmland Preservation program isn’t a land grab. “We want these minds, their energy, this entrepreneurial spirit to stay here in Rhode Island.”
