Laserfiche WebLink
In terms of agricultural productivity, the size of a farming operation can be <br />considered not just from its total acreage, but the acreage of different quality lands that <br />comprise the operation. Lands with higher quality soils lend themselves to greater <br />management and cropping flexibility and have the potential to provide a greater economic <br />return per unit acre. For a given project, instead of relying upon a single acreage figure in <br />the Project Size rating, the project is divided into three acreage groupings based upon the <br />Land Capability Classification ratings that were previously determined in the Land <br />Evaluation analysis. Under the Project Size rating, relatively fewer acres of high quality <br />soils are required to achieve a maximum Project Size score. Alternatively, a maximum <br />score on lesser quality soils could also be derived, provided there is a sufficiently large <br />acreage present. Acreage figures utilized in scoring are the synthesis of interviews that <br />were conducted statewide for growers of a broad range of crops. In the interviews growers <br />were queried as to what acreage they felt would be necessary in order for a given parcel to <br />be considered attractive for them to farm. <br />The USDA LCC continues to be the most widely available source of information on <br />land quality. Project Size under this definition is readily measurable, and utilizes much of <br />the same information needed to score a given project under the Land Evaluation <br />component of the methodology. This approach also complements the LE determination, <br />which, while addressing soil quality, does not account for the total acreage of soils of given <br />qualities within a project. <br />This approach allows for an accounting of the significance of high quality agricultural <br />land as well as lesser quality agricultural lands, which by virtue of their large area can be <br />considered significant agricultural resources. In this way, no single acreage figure for a <br />specific class of soils (e.g., soils defined as "prime ") is necessary. <br />15 <br />