The Morris County Agriculture Development Board has recommended changes to the county's farmland preservation plan that would bring its rules in line with those of the state, and could make it easier to preserve farms.

The catch, said Frank Pinto Jr., executive director of the county preservation trust, is that unless the state takes action, the fund that supports farmland preservation will run out of money in 2009.

The county agriculture development board will hold a joint public hearing with the county's planning board on the revised farmland preservation plan on July 17.

Pinto said the change in the county plan would allow the agriculture board to preserve farms all year, instead of waiting until state funds are available once a year.

In response to this change, the county board surveyed the farms in the county that are not preserved but are eligible for preservation as a way to speed up the process. Joining the preservation program is a voluntary decision made by the farmer, Pinto said.

Besides the preservation of farmland, the agriculture industry in Morris County also produces millions of dollars of goods. In 2002, the plan's executive summary said, Morris County farms sold $42 million worth of goods.

State rules that streamlined the farmland preservation process were adopted in 2007 by the state agriculture development board. The proposed rules establish a new county planning incentive grant program that will enable counties to accept and approve applications from landowners year-round, rather than once a year, as is the case under the county easement purchase program.

In addition to the new county incentive grant program, landowners interested in preserving their farmland can take advantage of other programs.

Pinto said the hearing is necessary because the farmland preservation plan is part of the land use element of the county master plan.

100 farms

Since 1987, Morris County has preserved 100 farms totaling 6,495 acres. Funds come from the county's preservation trust funds, authorized by voters to a maximum of 5 cents per $100 of assessed value. The tax generates about $44 million annually. In 2007, $11 million was used to purchase farmland.

The freeholders this year reduced the open space tax to 4 cents per $100.

Pinto said that even with the tax reduction, the county will generate sufficient funds for preservation of farms, open space and historic properties, in part because this year the value of the county's tax base rose by 10 percent to more than $102 billion.

Pinto said one issue facing Morris County is that the land targeted for preservation is getting more expensive and the target lots are getting smaller.

He said that the real concern is that the state trust fund for open space and farmland purchases runs out next year. The fund has $80 million left from a $200 million bond approved by state voters in November.

There was no action taken on the issue during the negotiations on the 2009 state budget that was just signed by Gov. Jon Corzine.

The lack of open space funding was the subject of a rally this week in Trenton as environmental and preservation groups demanded a stable funding source.

The Keep it Green campaign posed three funding sources: borrowing $800 million through a bond measure, enacting a water tax of 40 cents per 1,000 gallons to raise $150 million annually, or using $175 million from the state sales tax for preservation efforts.