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6 1. 3 4 2. 3• He said most of that was going to the Midwest. Commissioner Walker 5.• asked Mr. Cox if he thought it was right to lock farmers into a cer- 6, tain use for their land when they might want to use it for some- 7. thing else. Mr. Cox said his understanding was that the program was voluntary. • A man later identified as Joe Phelps asked who were the members 9. lo. of the Agricultural Task Force Implementation Committee. Ms. Smith 11, named those; she further recited the notices given for the meetings 12, and the percentage of participation in the meetings. Mr. Phelps 13, asked if all people had input. Ms. Smith replied that as many far- 14. mers as possible .wexe involved in this process. Mr. Phelps said 15, he was the President of the Farmer's Bureau and he'd had no-noti- 16. fication of these meetings. Ms. Smith said two letters had been 17. sent to the Farmers' Bureau over the past three months.and said 18. she would get copies of those letters for him. 19. Commissioner Lloyd asked the definition of "critical areas:" -- 20. Mr. Bob Tennant, Soil. Conservation Division, said that this 21. is "that area that takes above normal practices to bring under 22. control . For example, steep banks, any area where there is severe 23. loss of soil ." 24. Mr. Tennant added that 24 tons soil lost per acre was considered 25, critical ; the average was 18 tons/acre/year. 26. Commissioner Lloyd protested the length of the sign up in the 2 7e program and strict adherence to soil conservation practices as cri- 28. teria for participation. He requested that these two requirements 29. be deleted. 30. Mr. Carl Walters, a member of the Implementation Committee and 31, a farmer, read a list of Farmers' Bureau members who were also mem- 32• bers of his Committee. He also noted that the length of the sign 33• up was to discourage someone from just investing in a "holding 34, pattern. " It will not discourage the serious farmer; he noted also 35. there was a payback clause for only partial participation in the pro- 36 9 gram. 37. Planning Board member Irvin: Said the time of participation had 38• been discussed at length. He said as many farmers as possible should 39. 40.