NEW HAMPSHIRE NEWS 



celebrate with "a better-than- 

 evet show with a lot of special 

 events." He invites the Plant 

 Growers to participate and is 

 open to any ideas and suggestions. 



For those of you who have 

 ideas about next year's show, 

 Steve's number is (603) 271-3552. 

 He'd be glad to hear from you. 



ADDITIONAL READING 



For those of you who want 

 to read more about the New 

 Hampshire Plant-Growing 

 Industry, try Greenhouse Man- 

 ager, February, 1992: "Self- 

 installed ebb-and-flo system 

 saves labor for N.H. garden 



center" (Demers Garden 

 Center, Manchester); Green- 

 house Grower, February, 1992: 

 "Grower to Grower: Operation 

 Update" (D. S. Cole Growers, 

 Louden); and Yankee Magazine, 

 February, 1992: "Pleasant 

 Under Glass" (Elliot Rose 

 Company, Dover). 



H.B. 1242 & OTHERS 



House Bill 1242 (introduced by 

 Rep. Scanlon, R-Canaan) to estab- 

 lish a study committee to examine 

 present land use law and its effects 

 was passed by the NH House on 

 Feb. 12. Its hearing by the NH 

 Senate Environment Committee 

 was held on March 11. 



H.B. 1127 (introduced by Rep. 

 Christie, R-Hookset), which would 

 abolish current use, was defeated 

 in the NH House on February 19, 

 its final status being "inexpedient 

 to legislate." 



Rep. Tetu's (D-Claremont) bill, 

 which would require a hundred 

 dollar yearly fee from all owners 

 of land currently in current use 

 who would not open their property 

 to the public, was also defeated, 

 being also deemed "inexpedient to 

 legislate." 



The New Hampshire Plant 

 Grower's Association joined 

 twenty-nine other state-wide orga- 

 nizations in a "Coalition for Cur- 

 rent Use" to support passage of 

 H.B. 1242. The coalition felt that 

 now is an appropriate time "for 

 study and thoughtful deliberation 

 concerning possible problems posed 

 by the present current use law." 

 This bill's passage "will provide 

 the proper forum where this can 

 take place." 



For more information: call John 

 Schott, Chairman, Coalition for 

 Current Use, at (603) 532-7660. 



CURRENT USE UPDATE 

 FOR NH FARM LAND 

 OWNERS 



Compiled by Gail McWillwm, 

 Extension Educator, Agricultural 

 Resources, (JNH Cooperative 

 Extension 



During the 1991 New Hampshire 

 legislative session, significant revi- 



sions were made to the state's Current 

 Use law. The revised law is now in ef- 

 fect and the Current Use Board has 

 gathered public input from hearings 

 throughout the state and is adopting 

 new administrative rules to implement 

 the law. The rules will go into effect 

 April 1, 1992, the start of the new 

 property tax year. 



NEW LAND CATEGORIES— 

 Of primary interest to farmers and own- 

 ers of farm land is the consolidation of 

 old land categories such as "horticul- 

 tural land", "forage land", "permanent 

 pasture", etc., into a single farm land 

 category with a single value range. The 

 old categories each had their own value 

 ranges. Now, with the unified farm 

 land category there is only one range, 

 from $25 to $425 per acre. 



To determine the farm land value 

 range in which their land will be 

 placed, farmers and farm land owners 

 have two options: 



1. Allow local selectmen or 

 assessors to determine the placement. 

 Under this option, land has typically 

 been placed near, or at the top end of 

 the value range ($425 for 1992). Con- 

 sequently, this option may not be the 

 best choice for some farm land owners. 



2. Utilize the provision for use of 

 the Soil Potential Index (SPl) to calcu- 

 late where the land will be placed 

 within the $25 to $425 range. The se- 

 lectmen or assessors must use the SPl 



to determine farm land values if it is 

 provided by the landowner. SPl gives 

 the landowner bargaining power. 



WHAT IS SPl? 



This is a calculation made at the 

 county Conservation District office 

 which rates land on a scale of 0-100, 

 based on its capabilir\- to produce 

 crops. For example, a rating of 10 

 would indicate a piece of land is poorly 

 suited to growing crops; a 95 rating 

 would mean top quality soil with virtu- 



ally no impediments to crop produc- 

 tion. The Conservation Districts use 

 U.S. Soil Conservation Service soil 

 mapping data to compute SPl for 

 each field, parcel or tract of land. 

 Acreages of each type of soil within 

 the parcel are carefully weighted. 

 This is a scientifically developed 

 method with proven reliability. 



To get SPl information for your 

 farm land, set up an appointment 

 with your local Conservation Dis- 

 trict office. You will need farm 

 maps, field location information and 

 any other helpful materials when 

 you go. There is a fee for the tech- 

 nical work associated with calculat- 

 ing your SPl. Check with the local 

 Conservation District office for a fee 

 schedule. 



Plan to get your SPl work done 

 in time to present the numbers to 

 your selectmen or assessors prior to 

 the April 1 start of the 1992 tax 

 year. It will not be necessary to sub- 

 mit further SPl data in subsequent 

 tax years unless land is subdivided or 

 added to. 



EQUALIZATION RATIO 

 In addition to requiring selectmen or 

 assessors to use SPl data when pro- 

 vided by the landowner, the law also 

 requires them to apply the Equaliza- 

 tion Ratio to all Current Use values. 

 Each town is assigned an Equaliza- 

 tion Ratio by the NH Department 

 of Revenue Administration. Applica- 

 tion of the ratio helps to "equalize" 

 that town's assessments to other 

 towns in the state. The Equalization 

 Ratio can afford the landowner fur- 

 ther tax benefits. 



For more information contact your lo- 

 cal Conservation District office, NH 

 Department of Agriculture, NH De- 

 partment of Revenue Administration, 

 or UNH Cooperative Extension. 



April/May 1992 9 



