Tue 2 Nov 2010

Agland Preservation Delaware

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The Delaware Agricultural Lands Preservation Foundation preserves farms – the cornerstone of rural Delaware. The Foundation preserves historic structures, wildlife habitats, important environmental features, wetlands, and forests, as well as setting aside, permanently, the critical farmland for future generations of Delawareans.

The preservation of  farmland is Voluntary – it’s up to the property owners. Delaware’s Farmland Preservation Program has two major components Agricultural Preservation Districts and Agricultural Conservation Easements.

The Agricultural Preservation Program started creating Agricultural Districts in 1992 and to date over 1,065 farms have been permanently preserved.  When a district has been approved, it is entered into the Preservation Program where it is eligible for certain tax breaks and is also eligible to have its Development Rights purchased by the state creating an Agricultural Conservation Easement preserving the farmland in perpetuity.


SmartMAP.com has provided comprehensive computer support to create Ag Preservation Districts, Ag Conservation Easements, Ag Strategy Maps, Internet Mapping known as the Ag SmartMAP, Ag Database, LESA (Land Evaluation and Site Assessment) and many additional services contributing to a highly successful Farmland Preservation Program in the state of Delaware.

This website and the information contained on it demonstrate SmartMAP.com services relating to Farmland Preservation, GIS Mapping, Computer Services and Programming, and related.  Please contact SmartMAP.com for further information.  

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Thu 4 Nov 2010

Land Evaluation and Site Assessment (LESA)

Posted by under Land Evaluation & Site Assessment (LESA)
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The Land Evaluation and Site Assessment (LESA) system helps state and local officials make sound decisions about land use. Combined with Forest measures and Rangeland parameters, LESA can provide a technical framework to numerically rank land parcels based on local resource evaluation and site considerations.

Land Evaluation

In Agricultural Land Evaluation, soils are rated and placed into groups ranging from the best to the least suited for a specific agricultural use, such as cropland, forestland, or rangeland. Then, a relative value is determined for each group. For example, the best group may be assigned a value of 100, while all other groups are assigned lower values. The land evaluation is based on data from the Natural Resources Conservation Service—often called the largest and most valuable natural resource database in the world.

Land Evaluation and Site Assessment activities such as measuring land and productivity assist landowners and others prior to making land use conversions to non-agricultural uses.

Site Assessment

Site assessment involves three major areas:

  • Non-soil factors related to agricultural use of a site.
  • Factors related to development pressures.
  • Other public values of a site.

Each factor selected is assigned a range of possible values according to local needs and objectives. This process provides a rational, consistent, sound basis for making land use decisions.

Delaware Computerized LESA System

SmartMAP.com is creating a computerized LESA System that will greatly automate the scoring process.

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Thu 4 Nov 2010

Ag Database

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place holder

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Wed 3 Nov 2010

Ag Conservation Easements

Posted by under Ag Conservation Easements
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Agricultural Conservation Easements

In order to permanently preserve farmland, the Foundation purchases Development Rights from landowners and imposes a permanent Agricultural Conservation Easement on the land. The land must first be in an Agricultural Preservation District before the owner can apply to sell the development rights.  The sale of development rights is a three-step process.

Tax Payer Benefits

Congress has enacted laws that may benefit owners of preserved farmland. An easement
either sold or donated to the Foundation may qualify the owner for a deduction for
income, gift or estate tax purposes.

Rules governing taxes are complex; owners should consult competent tax advisers on
these matters.

Selecting Farms

All farms applying for Purchase of Development Rights are appraised.

Appraising Farms

In order to set the market value of the development rights for each farm, the Foundation pays for an appraisal, with two parts. The first is the full, fair market value of the farmland. This standard approach is based on real estate sales data for comparable farms in the area. The second part sets the agriculture only value of the farm based on the agricultural rent values and current rates of return on investments. The difference between fair market value and agriculture only value is the appraised value of the development rights.

Final Price for Farms

The Foundation delivers final appraisals to farmland owners. An owner can choose to have a second appraisal completed at his own expense. Once there is an agreement on the appraised value, the owner then makes an offer to the Foundation. Using the Funds available, the Foundation selects from those offers based on the percentage discount by the owner below the appraised development rights value. In effect, owners compete against each other to determine which farms are preserved. This approach encourages the permanent preservation of more farmland than would have been possible otherwise.

Upon selection, the Foundation pays for a complete survey of the farms for permanent preservation. Owners pay no taxes, fees or charges at settlement. Owners can accept lump sum payment, take payment over time, or use the proceeds to purchase an interest in other property.

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Wed 3 Nov 2010

Ag District Monitoring

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Once an Agricultural Preservation Easement is created, annual monitoring is required to insure that the property remains in compliance with the Preservation Program requirements.  To date, this monitoring has been mostly done manually.   SmartMAP.com is currently developing a streamlined system using the Internet, GIS and GPS called the Ag District Monitoring System.

The Ag District Monitoring System is a geographic information system (GIS) software platform that enables the program to deliver GIS data and services from centralized servers, providing real-time access to information over wireless networks to a range of Windows Mobile devices.   The system is powered by ArcGIS Server and allows users to deploy intuitive and productive Mobile GIS applications to increase the accuracy and improve the currency of GIS data across its organization.

The Ag District Monitoring System lets users take their GIS to the field where new data can easily be collected and updated to reflect real-world conditions.  It lets you increase accuracy using intuitive collection tools integrated with Global Positioning System (GPS) and improve currency using wireless networks to quickly update the server. Field and office workers can make better decisions with latest and most accurate data.  This will allow field personnel to view Ag District maps, aerials and related data on a portable device such as a Smartphone, Pocket PC and Tablets.

With the Ag District Monitoring System the field enumerator will be able to:

•    View and navigate mobile maps to direct field resources effectively and monitor the farm location.

•    Collect, edit, and update new and existing GIS data in real time.

•    Utilize the device rocker, stylus, or Global Positioning System to improve field efficiency.

•    Search for and manage a list of GIS features to perform current tasks or future work.

•    Check the device status to access network and data service connections.

Field personnel will be able to perform Real-Time Data Editing in the field.  The application has the ability to synchronize directly with agency’s ArcGIS Server when connected to a wireless or wired network. This allows both office and field personnel to instantly view and work with updates made by any field staff who are also connected to the network. When operating in a disconnected mode, the application caches the information locally on the device and updates the database as soon as it reconnects.

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Wed 3 Nov 2010

Ag SmartMAP

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SmartMAP.com created the first dynamic statewide Internet GIS mapping system for the Delaware Department of Agriculture.  This SmartMAP URL is:  http://www.smartmap.com/dda/dda.htm This SmartMAP system is a truly dynamic Internet Mapping system allowing staff and the public easy access to all kinds of sophisticated information, all in one place, virtually at their finger tips.  The system operates through the Internet using MS Explorer.

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Tue 2 Nov 2010

Ag Preservation Districts

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SmartMAP.com creates Agricultural Preservation District Maps for the Delaware Agricultural Lands Preservation Foundation.  The Agricultural Preservation Program started creating Agricultural Districts in 1992 and to date over 1,065 farms have been permanently preserved.  When a district has been approved, it is entered into the Preservation Program where it is eligible for certain tax breaks and is also eligible to have its development rights purchased by the state creating an Agricultural Easement preserving the farmland in perpetuity.  Using an automated system designed by SmartMAP.com, six maps are created to help the decision making process for approvals. The six pages are: General Location, Detailed Location and Surrounding Parcels, Soil Analysis, Ortho Photo Overlay, Land Use Analysis, Detailed Location with Ortho Photo Overlay.  The maps are distributed to the County Planning Commissions as well as other interested parties.  After final approval, the maps are recorded in the Recorder of Deeds office and the digital maps are used by the state to create digital GIS files for linking and viewing on the Internet through SmartMAP.  A similar program, being mapped by SmartMAP.com, was started in 2006 for Forestland Preservation Areas of Delaware.

http://www.smartmap.com/dda/dda.htm

 

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Tue 2 Nov 2010

Ag Strategy Map

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SmartMAP.com used its GIS capabilities to perform Relative Suitability Analyses to create an Agricultural Preservation Strategy Map for the entire State of Delaware.  This map included polygon processing, scoring, and weighting of six layers of information. The layers included Land Use, Soils, Sewer Service Areas, Agricultural Investment, and Percentage of Cropland and Percentage of Open Space.  This process allowed the state to do several “what if?” scenarios by changing the scoring and weighting values and reprocessing.  After selecting the final scenario, the maps were then updated annually using updated layer information, and then processed using the same formula to produce updated maps.  The Farmland Preservation program has been extremely successful in Delaware and more than 93,000 acres have been permanently preserved and more than $166 million has been paid to farmers to preserve their land.

SmartMAP.com can enhance your Land Planning and Preservation Programs.  This same Relative Suitability Analysis can be used to create other types of planning results.  SmartMAP.com has performed several additional analyses that Delaware has used to determine “Growth Areas”.  This analysis identified areas throughout the state where the state wants to encourage and stimulate development based on land use, infrastructure, etc.

Incentives are offered to encourage development in these areas.  This Development Analysis goes hand in hand with the Preservation Analysis to produce an overall state plan for the controlled, orderly and logical growth and preservation in Delaware

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