Department of Agriculture
Natural Resources Conservation Service
Forest Service
SUMMARY:
Maintaining Agriculture and Forestry in Rapidly Growing Areas Listening Forums hosted by members of the USDA Policy Advisory Committee on Farmland Protection. The USDA Policy Advisory Committee on Farm and Forest Lands Protection is holding listening forums this summer to solicit policy feedback and anecdotal information on what works and what doesn't from a community's perspective in working with federal tools designed to maintain land as farmland and forest land. The input received from these forums will be synthesized into a report that USDA will issue on this subject later this year.
Specifically, the forums will ask for public comment on the following questions:
1. What are the economic, environmental and social benefits of farms and forested lands for communities, especially those in rapidly growing regions?
2. What are the challenges that communities and individuals face in trying to maintain farms and forested lands, especially in rapidly growing areas;
3. What sorts of opportunities exist to capitalize on market opportunities ( e.g. direct marketing and agri-tourism) to encourage maintenance of farmland and forestland.
4. What role could the federal government play to better support farmers and forest operators in taking advantage of these opportunities?
DATES:
The first forum will convene Thursday, July 13, 2000, at 9:00 a.m. and conclude at 12:00 p.m.. It will be held at the Dekalb County Farm Bureau Center for Agriculture, 1350 West Prairie Drive, Sycamore, Illinois 60178. The second forum is scheduled for Friday, July 21, 2000, beginning at 9:00 a.m. and continuing until 12:00 p.m., at the University of California, Davis, Alumni and Visitors Center, in Room AGR, located on Old Davis Road and Mrak Hall Drive, Davis California. The ( printed page 40607) third forum will be in late July in Seattle, Washington (location to be determined). And, a fourth forum will be held early August in the Highlands Region in New Jersey (Date and location to be determined). Three informational gathering sessions are being considered.
ADDRESSES:
Are included in the above information under DATES .