Agenda - 10-12-1999 - 1 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Draft 10/8/99 In 1994, a report was prepared that used .the. LESA system to categorize the County's soil types -and propensity for agricultural production into eight categories.: Those categories were .then refined into agricultural soil groups, with the higher group containing the highest class of farmland. A table showing the soil types and their assessment and` ranking criteria is included as .part of Appendix D. The six agricultural groups with lands classified as prime are shown. below. These groups comprise 54% of the County: land area. 1-Prime 7.1%. 2 -Prime 19.7% 3 -Prime 11.7% 4 -Prime 9.0% 5 -Prime 8.8% A formula was recommended in the 1994 "Preserving Our Farms" report that provides for .further. refinement of this data -for the purpose of assessing sites for potential acquisition. A calculation on the relative -value of a site (its yield potential, soil productivity and agricultural-class) maybe. performed. This involves: ` - Locating the site on a soil survey -map and determining the type- of soils present - Determining -the acreage of each soil type and it's agricultural group (see above) - - Multiplying the number of acres in each group by the relative _ . value and. summing all groups - Divide the total .relative value by the total acreage to obtain average relative value The number generated by this analysis will - allow comparative assessment with other prime farmland. A master .list could be generated of the most significant prime .farmland, from which potential acquisitions could be pursued as desired. An update of the work from 1994 will be needed to establish a new map and master list of areas. This approach, while several years old, is still recommended by the Agricultural Districts Advisory Board.- There is considerable additional detail on the method of using the LESA approach to evaluate farmland. Some modification. may be needed to address 20