Burlington County plans to auction 8 farms

COURIER POST

By CAROL COMEGNO • Courier-Post Staff • January 14, 2009

MOUNT HOLLY — Eight farms will be offered at auction next month, but they will not end up as housing or commercial developments.

On Feb. 12, Burlington County will sell farms with more than 700 combined acres in six towns -- but only for agricultural use.

The county bought the farms and deed-restricted them as part of its farmland preservation program.

Proceeds from the sales will go to a county trust fund to buy more farms, said Freeholder William Haines Jr. The county's purchases are also financed by its dedicated property tax and state grants.

Haines said private owners "can invest and sustain these farms at no future cost to taxpayers."

The largest farm, the former Armstrong property in Mansfield, is 202 acres.

Also being sold are the former:

Bell farm, 128 acres, North Hanover.

C. Pettit farm, 125 acres, Pemberton Township

Blaetz farm, 69 acres, Pemberton Township

W. Pettit farm, 63 acres, Pemberton Township and Springfield.

Conover farm, 50 acres, Pemberton Township

Orchard Enterprises, 49 acres, Chesterfield

Ashmore farm, 36 acres, Florence.

The auction will be held at the Rutgers EcoComplex on Route 543 in Mansfield. A similar auction in 2006 grossed nearly $6 million for close to 1,000 acres.

Prices are likely to be lower this year, said Max Spann, whose Clinton, Hunterdon County, firm will conduct the auction.

"A positive with the drop in values is that these farms will be much more affordable for the local farmer to buy, and there is mortgage money available at attractive rates," he said.

Prospective buyers can get a preview of the farms at open houses Jan. 24 and Feb. 23 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

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Auctioning off land is a good way to protect more

There's renewable energy, and now there's renewable open space.

Burlington County officials are smart to go beyond just buying and preserving farmland, but to use the land they buy to help fund more purchases.

On Feb. 12, Burlington County will auction off eight tracts of farmland it previously purchased. The land has been deed restricted so it can only be used for agriculture. Proceeds from selling the eight farms in Pemberton, North Hanover and other northern Burlington County townships will then be used to buy and preserve more farmland.

A similar auction in 2006 where the county sold almost 1,000 acres of deed-restricted farmland grossed almost $6 million.

With land prices down, the county expects to get less this time around. But, according to Freeholder William Haines Jr., the low prices should make the land more affordable for local farmers, which is good.

This is efficient preservation and smart use of taxpayer dollars. It keeps farmers farming, and it keeps the county in the business of continually buying and protecting farmland.