Impacts of Idaho's New Agricultural Protection Area Act
by Sidnee Hill
The 2022 Idaho Agricultural census confirmed what all Idahoans knew; we are losing farms, ranches, and harvestable forest lands. Since the 2017 Agricultural census there were 143,949 less reported acres in production agriculture.[1]
In that same period the Idaho population grew by 11.30%. Reeling from such rapid changes, legislators from the rural state created the Agricultural Protection Area Act in an action that is a “big step forward[2]” towards addressing the rapid urban encroachment of agricultural lands.
But what exactly does this new law entail and what does it mean to farmers and landowners alike? By boiling it down we learn that Chapter 97, Title 67[3] has three primary results that current and potential landowners should be aware of:
1 It is a directive to each county's board of commissioners to create a county Agricultural Protection Area ordinance by January 1, 2025.
2. Limits eminent domain from condemning, for any purpose, any land within a designated and enrolled Agricultural Protection Area.
And,
3. This law also protects agricultural operations and agricultural facilities on protected agricultural land from nuisance actions, granted that they follow generally recognized farming practices. Any law or ordinances that defines or prohibits a public nuisance must exclude agricultural production areas.
These ordinances drafted and enacted by each county must allow for those owners of 5 acres or more that have been in production agricultural for the previous 3 consecutive years, to voluntarily enroll their parcels as a “Protected Agricultural Area”. These parcels, if approved, will be “protected” and keeps the specified parcels of land designated as agriculture in all future land use planning maps. If county planning commissions wish to change the zoning or land-use designations of these protected areas, they must obtain written permission from the owners. Owners of eligible land will need to apply for enrollment of land they wish to be protected; enrollment will not be automatic or compulsory. By preventing enrolled agricultural land from being arbitrarily rezoned to a higher use classification, it is also possible that enrolled agricultural land will be protected from tax implications that would result from an unwanted classification change.
Enrolled agricultural land will be subject to an expiration period at which time the land may be reenrolled, automatically reenrolled, or removed from protected status. An owner of a protected agricultural area parcel may unenroll their property before the designated expiration period only in instances of “hardship”, defined as a situation or circumstance over which a landowner in an agricultural protection area has no control, for reasons that include, but are not limited to, an adverse result in litigation against the farm or landowner, death of a close family member that would lead to unanticipated financial hardships, significant tax liabilities, bankruptcy due to another person’s fraud or other illegal activity.”
After counties develop their Agricultural Protection Area Ordinances and before any future purchase of agricultural land it will be important through the due diligence process to determine the protected status of any parcels of interest as this might have a profound impact on future use and taxes.
[1] st16_1_001_001.pdf (usda.gov)
[2] Idaho law establishes ag protection areas | Rural Life | capitalpress.com