Agricultural Enterprise Areas To Be Designated in 2022

Sunday, December 26th, 2021 -- 10:31 AM

(Wisconsin Ag Connection) -The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture is accepting petitions for Agricultural Enterprise Areas to be designated in 2022.

Agricultural enterprise areas, or AEAs, are blocks of land that are primarily in agricultural use for farming and for businesses that serve the farming sector. They are created when at least five landowners and their local governments petition for an AEA designation and the department approves the petition. AEA designation does not limit land use within the area or protect it from development. It does allow farmers within the AEA to receive tax credits of $5-$10 per acre if they enter into farmland preservation agreements with the department. The designation can also be used with local planning and zoning, conservation easements, agriculture economic development incentives, and other tools to support farming and the local farm economy.

Wisconsin has a total of 40 AEA designations with almost 1.4 million acres in 112 towns, 27 counties, and the Bad River Reservation. Since 2010, over 1,500 Wisconsin farmland owners supported petitions for designation of an AEA. Petitions will be accepted through July 29, 2022. For more information, call 608-224-4611 or go to: http://farmlandpreservation.wi.gov.

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