Landclearing update

[Kent in NB]

Got about two acres done . Now they are going to shape that area and move on to the next parcel.

Our gov. is actually helping with this project! They are going to cover about 30% of the cost. So all you folks out west are welcome to come! BTW, we are waiting for sub-zero weather to dry up the mud and make final grooming easier. Yeah, there is a spring right in the middle of the area. Bummer.Kent in NB

 

[paul]

Here in Minnesota they used to help with tiling plans, some cost share & so on. One was encouraged to drain & plant - raised the tax base.

Now they do cost share with restoring wetlands, removing tile, planting native grasses. One is prevented by law from draining many areas. Taxes go up 12% a year on the land you can farm, and unusable areas also - because of their intrinsic value....

Govt is so wonderful.

--->Paul

 

[Michael Soldan]

Here in Ontario we have a programme for areas not in agricultural production, I have 150 acres of woods that has been designated as a wetland, I put it into a "Forest Management programme and the tazes are zero..no cost. Farmland in Ontario is not taxed either and so if you had no buildings on a parcel of land there would be no taxes. However they do tax the hell out of you on buildings . I have a new 40x80'shed, an L shaped bank barn and a two storey brick farmhouse and I pay $2800 in taxes, those taxes rise annually. We also have to pay for all municipal drainage, any new work, repairs and maintenance costs are assessed to each farm based on the number of acres draining into a system..seems we are always paying. My house in town a three bedroom bungalo is $2900, our cottage along Lake Huron's shore is a modest cottage that costs $3300 in taxes. Municipalities love cottages, they really tax the hell out of 'em and provide few services so its a plus for the tax base. The problem is many framers who acquire a second or third farm remove all the buildings, thus those left with buildings pay an ever increasing tax and bear the burden for the entire municipality.

 

[Walt Davies]

We have farm and forest tax relief here in oregon I payed $700 this year on the farm house and barn. My neighbors who built after the law changed pay to the nose for a house.
Walt

 

[Dave from MN]

If this is the Paul that has relatives up here near Foley, your grandads farm that had been sold , (all but 20 acres and the buildings) has been having all the trees and windbreaks being logged off and cleared just this last week, making room for a pivot and large equipment I assume. I talked to a neighbor yesterday thast says he helped plant all them tree's and the reasons they planted them. It sad to watch.

 

[Ken Macfarlane]

In NB you can get property tax held back on farm buildings and land if it is kept in production, they basically hold onto the tax bills. If it is taken out of production, you pay the last 20 years at residential rates. I think its a good way of holding farm land against development but most people here even farmers don't seem to understand it and will not put their land into the program.

 

[paul]

Nope - One granddad was in Germany, other one I'm sitting in the house he built on the whole farm down here in southern MN. I think I have some shirtail relatives up that way.

Mom & dad put in a grove/ windbreak 40+ years ago. It's one of the few level flat places on this place. I'd like to take 2/3 of those trees down & use the space for a shed & grain storage.

But, hard to get the saw onto those trees.... Hum.

It's still known as the 'new grove' as the other 1/2 of the whole grove was planted by the grandparents or earlier, reseeded itself into old 2nd generation trees by now.

--->Paul