Ch. 65 LAWS OF MARYLAND
BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments,
Article - Agriculture
Section 2-504.l(c), 2-510(b), and 2-512
Annotated Code of Maryland
(1985 Replacement Volume and 1989 Supplement)
BY adding to
Article - Agriculture
Section 2-508.1, 2-510(m), and 2-516
Annotated Code of Maryland
(1985 Replacement Volume and 1989 Supplement)
BY repealing and reenacting, without amendments,
Article - Agriculture
Section 2-510(a)
Annotated Code of Maryland
(1985 Replacement Volume and 1989 Supplement)
BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments,
Article - Tax - Property
Section 13-306
Annotated Code of Maryland
(1986 Volume and 1989 Supplement)
Preamble
WHEREAS, Maryland has received national recognition for its foresight in
establishing the Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation and for the Foundation's
success in preserving agricultural land; and
WHEREAS, Since the inception of the Agricultural Land Preservation
Foundation in 1977, approximately 79,482 acres of agricultural land have been
preserved, financed primarily through the agricultural land transfer tax; and
WHEREAS, The 1989 Maryland General Assembly appointed the Joint
Subcommittee on Program Open Space and Agricultural Land Preservation during the
1989 Interim to reassess, reevaluate, and improve Maryland's efforts to preserve
farmland; and
WHEREAS, The General Assembly finds that development pressure comprises
a threat to Maryland's agricultural resources such that: (1) a total of 194,125 acres of
prime farmland have been lost to development since 1982; and (2) the Office of
Planning estimates that the agricultural property loss by the year 2020 will amount to
another 400,000 acres, thereby bringing Maryland's total farmland production acreage
to roughly 2.15 million acres—an amount of acreage that the American Farmland Trust
warns is dangerously close to the 2 million acres needed in Maryland to sustain a viable
agricultural industry; and
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