THE FARM LANDSCAPE 297 



All governmental programs should recognize the basic units with 

 which they have to deal, not only in terms of the basic natural re- 

 sources, but the human resources and governmental resources as well. 



Today's technology alleviates the necessity for contemplating nat- 

 ural resource base as the principle consideration when undertaking 

 programs of economic rehabilitation. If a group of people consider 

 themselves to be an economic-political unity, this must be the prime 

 consideration of future development, either as a part of a larger unit, 

 or as an autonomous unit, but never divided. 



HAROLD GILLIAM. I would like to suggest, for the consideration of 

 the panel, some possible recommendations for Federal policy to en- 

 courage the maintenance of farmland as open space. One would 

 be the possibility of income tax concessions to farmers, or advantages 

 to farmers and owners of open space, who maintain their land as 

 open space. 



Another would be the possibility of Federal grants to local govern- 

 ments as compensation for revenue lost when they assess land for 

 rural rather than urban purposes. If farmland in a suburban area 

 is assessed for its actual use rather than its potential use, as one of 

 the speakers mentioned, the local governments will lose revenue. 



Maybe there could be a Federal program of grants to local govern- 

 ments to make up that lost money. 



Another one would be the possibility that open space grants could 

 be made to local governments which have a policy of zoning rural 

 land, as Mr. Wenkam stated is done in Hawaii. These could be 

 made either under existing programs, such as the Land and Water 

 Conservation Fund or the HHFA programs, or under some new type 

 of program. 



Here are some procedures with which the Federal government 

 might encourage local governments to maintain farmland as open 

 space. 



Dr. CLARENCE COTTAM. It seems to me that there are two things 

 that are left out of the program, as I heard it from the distinguished 

 panelists. When the big problem is to make money out of the land 

 that is incapable of agriculture, more effort should be made to elim- 

 inate the poor land that Mr. Williams is talking about. We have a 

 lot of it. There need to be capability tests made of it. There needs 

 to be elimination of agriculturally unproductive land so the land 

 can be put into other and better uses. 



