'Low-intensity' Residential Growth Biggest Threat To Georgia Farming

Single-family residential subdivisions built on large lots are gobbling up Georgia’s farmland at an alarming rate, the head of a nonprofit land preservation group told a panel of state lawmakers.

The Peach State lost about 2.6 million acres of farmland and 2 million acres of forest between 1974 and 2016, Katherine Moore, president of the Georgia Conservancy, told members of a state Senate study committee Tuesday. Most of that acreage has been turned into “low-intensity” residential properties, single-family homes scattered on large lots across former farmland, she said.

“Our land is a limited resource,” Moore said. “We have to think how to grow sustainably.”

Moore’s testimony came during the first meeting of the Senate Study Committee on Preservation of Georgia’s Farmlands, which the Senate formed this year to look for ways to slow the loss of farmland by helping farmers make a decent living pursuing the state’s No. 1 industry.

“We’ve got to find ways to ensure our farmers are successful,” Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture Tyler Harper said. “We do that by making farm families successful.”

Moore said Georgia’s current population of 11 million is expected to increase to 13.5 million by 2050.

Current growth has been uneven across the state, she said, with some areas where population growth has exceeded the increase in developed land and others where the loss of farmland has outstripped the increase in population.

The rapid growth of “solar farms,” farmland dedicated to vast fields of solar panels, has been a factor in the loss of agricultural land, eating up 30,000 acres by 2021, Moore said. But that’s far less than the impact construction of low-density residential subdivisions has had on available agricultural acreage, she said.

Moore said local governments should focus on land-use decisions that curb the spread of low-intensity residential development.

Others suggested more needs to be done to help financially struggling Georgia farmers resist the temptation to sell off their farms to developers.

Harper cited steps the state already has taken to incentivize farmers to stay on the land. The Georgia Farmland Conservation Act the General Assembly passed last year established a $2 million state fund to pay farmers willing to guarantee preserving their properties as farmland.

This year, the legislature passed a bill prohibiting foreign adversaries or their agents from acquiring Georgia farmland.

“These are the types of things that can help us move the ball in the right direction,” Harper said.

Sen. Russ Goodman, R-Cogdell, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee and a farmer by trade, said farmers also face other challenges much broader in scope, including corporate consolidation of farms, overregulation, and unfair trade practices by foreign competitors.

Harper added inflated farm input costs and declining commodity prices to the list of challenges making it difficult for farmers to earn a profit.

“We’re asked to do more with less every day,” he said. “At some point, more with less doesn’t work anymore.”

Sen. Billy Hickman, R-Statesboro, the study committee’s chairman, said the panel will hold additional hearings this summer and fall across the state before meeting at the Georgia Capitol in November to finalize recommendations.

The committee is due to issue a report by Dec. 1.