Ohio Administrative Code › Title 901 - Department of Agriculture - Administration and Director › Chapter 901-2 - Matching Grants › Section 901-2-01 - Definitions

Current through all regulations passed and filed through July 1, 2024
As used in this chapter:
(A) "Agriculture" means commercial animal or
			 poultry husbandry, aquaculture, apiculture, the production for a commercial
			 purpose of timber, field crops, tobacco, fruits, vegetables, nursery stock,
			 ornamental trees, sod, flowers, or the growth of timber for a noncommercial
			 purpose, if the land on which the timber is grown is contiguous to or part of a
			 parcel of land under common ownership that is otherwise devoted exclusively to
			 agricultural use, or were devoted to and qualified for payments or other
			 compensation under a land retirement or conservation program under an agreement
			 with an agency of the federal government pursuant to section
			 5713.30 of the Revised
			 Code.
(B) "Agricultural Area" means
			 land that a political subdivision has identified in an adopted local
			 comprehensive land use plan as significant for agriculture.
(C) "Agricultural District" means a tract,
			 lot, or parcel of land that is enrolled with the county auditor as land devoted
			 to agricultural use pursuant to Chapter 929. of the Revised Code.
(D) "Agricultural Easement" means an
			 incorporeal right or interest in land that is held for the public purpose of
			 retaining the use of land predominantly in agriculture; that imposes any
			 limitations on the use or development of the land that are appropriate at the
			 time of creation of the easement to achieve that purpose in perpetuity; that is
			 in the form of articles of dedication, easement, covenant, restriction, or
			 condition; and that includes appropriate provisions for the local holder to
			 enter the property subject to the easement at reasonable times to ensure
			 compliance with its provisions pursuant to section
			 5301.67 of the Revised
			 Code.
(E) "Agricultural Easement
			 Value" means the difference between the fair market
			 value of the property before and after the easement takes effect as
			 determined by the department's points-based appraisal system, or a qualified
			 appraiser if required by the director.
(F)
			 "Agricultural Security Area" means an area of at least five hundred acres of
			 contiguous land that is enrolled with the county commissioners and township
			 trustees for a period of ten years and devoted to agricultural use pursuant to
			 sections 931.01 to
			 931.09,
			 931.99, and
			 5709.28 of the Revised
			 Code.
(G) "Application for
			 Certification" means the act of a municipal corporation, county, township, soil
			 and water conservation district or charitable organization submitting an
			 application to the director demonstrating that it has the managerial, legal and
			 financial expertise to operate a local agricultural easement purchase program
			 and to share legal responsibility with the director to select, hold, monitor,
			 supervise and enforce the provisions of an agricultural easement.
(H) "Application
			 Property" means the land or lands that make up the holdings, on a single
			 application, for which a matching grant is being sought in exchange for the
			 sale of a perpetual agricultural easement.
(I) "Best Management
			 Practices" means those farming methods generally accepted in the agricultural
			 community as beneficial in conserving the productivity of farmland.
(J)
			 "Century Farm" means a farm recognized by the
								 department
			 
								which has maintained a
			 farm or homestead in 
								one family for at least one hundred years
			 .
(K) "Certified Local Sponsor"
			 
								means an
			 organization
								
								which has been approved in accordance with
								 rule
			 901-2-07
			 of the Administrative Code.
(L) "Charitable
			 Organization" means an organization that meets the federal taxation
			 requirements outlined within division (B) of section
			 5301.69 of the Revised
			 Code.
(M)
								"Contiguous" means any of the following:
(1)
									Geographically
			 adjacent property used for agriculture, which may include a
			 homestead(s);
(2)
									Two or more pieces of property used for agriculture
			 that would be geographically adjacent but for the fact that the property is
			 separated by a public or private right-of-way or rights-of-way or by rivers,
			 streams, creeks, or other bodies of water; or
(3)
									Two or more
			 pieces of property used for agriculture that would be geographically adjacent
			 but for the fact that the property is separated by a unique corridor, such as a
			 state owned interstate or railroad, and the director believes that it is in the
			 land and department's best interest to have the farm parcels under one
			 easement.