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October 2001 farmland preservation report than half of all U.S. farmers share in only 13 percent of the payments. Proponents of shifting from crop subsidies to conserva- tion rewards say the move would more evenly distribute farm bill dollars. CONFERENCE: TRENDS IN REGULATIONS Economist: (Progress of programs difficult to gauge (Conference, continued from page 1) providing ample doses of skepticism about the ways farmland loss is measured and in- terpreted, and whether government inter- vention is appropriate. Washington State University professor Paul W. Barkley focused on the philosophi- cal problems as well as the pragmatic diffi- culties of protecting farmland in urbanizing . regions, answering the question, "why do we save land, farms and agriculture." USDA Economic Research Service economist Ralph Heimlich said divergent opinions in the farmland protection field about goals and objectives for preservation leave agricultural economists with little to go by as they attempt to measure the pro- gress of protection programs. Heimlich pointed out that "the pattern of the landscape and the interactions of the various elements in it may be more impor- tant to our perceptions of the "goodness" or "badness" of land use problems than any- thing that results in significant market ef- fects from aggregates such as land or hous- ing price, land conversion, or construction." Heimlich's distressed conclusion was that "conclusions based on economics alone will be inconclusive." Heimlich, whose past research claimed fewer farmland acres lost than Page 3 other, non - government studies showed, and who has claimed federal assistance is un- needed, said protection advocates "have yet to agree on exactly what sprawl is," and therefore cannot find common ground on how to curb it. "The whole land use discussion we're having is very confusing. People who are allies are not necessarily looking to achieve the same thing," Heimlich said in an inter- view. "It comes back to the question of what we're trying to achieve — farming ac- tivity or affordable housing ?" Achieve ag zoning by testing assump- tions, knowing local land sales Agricultural zoning was the topic of four presentations, all of which demon- strated renewed interest and activity in zon- ing as a primary protection of farmland. Farmland Preservation Report pub- lisher Deborah Bowers reported on recent downzonings in Maryland that were accom- plished, she said, because zoning changes were preceded by studies that convinced landowners that fears of lost equity in land were unfounded, at least in the subject lo- calities. Baltimore and Calvert Counties sig- nificantly decreased allowed density in agri- cultural areas in the last three.years. Bowers showed highlights of the land sales data and research that "disproved long - standing assumptions about the rela- tionship between density and land sales profits." Downzoning could become a trend in Maryland, she said, because of recent policy directions by the state's land protection pro- grams that look to assign funding priority to localities with more restrictive zoning. Bowers said downzoning has become increasingly important in recent years as lo- calities using purchase of development (Continued on page d) 33