| In the early 1980's, Congress concluded from agricultural land studies that millions of acres of farmland were being converted to housing and other nonagricultural uses on an annual basis. This raised concerns about the ability of the United States to produce the food and fiber necessary to meet both domestic needs and the demands of export markets. Congress also recognized that in many cases, federal programs and activities contribute to the conversion of farmland to nonagricultural uses. In 1981, Congress passed the Farmland Protection Policy Act (FPPA), one of the purposes of which is to minimize the extent to which actions of the federal government result in the irreversible loss of farmland and to ensure that federal programs or federally-assisted programs were administered in such a way as to be compatible with state and local policies designed to protect farmland.
The FPPA gives the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) the responsibility to develop criteria to identify the effects of federal activities on the conversion of farmland to nonagricultural uses. All other departments, agencies, and independent commissions of the federal government are required to use the criteria developed by the USDA to identify the quantity of farmland actually converted by federal activities, to identify and evaluate the adverse effects of federal activities on the preservation of farmland, and to consider alternative activities that might lessen such adverse effects. The USDA is authorized to provide information and technical assistance that might be helpful in restoring, maintaining, and improving the quality of farmland to other governmental departments and agencies.
Under the FPPA, each governmental department or agency must review the laws and regulations applicable to it as well as its policies and procedures and identify those laws, regulations, policies, and procedures that make it difficult or impossible to carry out the purposes and policies of the FPPA. Each governmental unit must also develop proposals for enabling its programs and administrative activities to conform with the purposes and policies of the FPPA. Each year, the USDA is required to report to the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry and to the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representatives on the progress made in carrying out the purposes and policies of the FPPA.
The FPPA explicitly denies the federal government any authority to regulate the use of private or non-federal land or to otherwise affect the rights of property owners. In addition, the requirements of the FPPA do not apply to the acquisition or use of farmland for national defense purposes on an emergency basis. The FPPA also provides no enforcement provisions, and in contrast to many statutes designed for the protection of the environment, specifically denies standing to individuals to challenge federal programs or activities that affect farmland. The one exception to this restriction is that a governor of a state whose farmland may be affected by federal activities and which has in place policies or programs for the protection of farmland may bring a lawsuit to enforce the requirements of the FPPA. Copyright 2010 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. |