Pennsylvania Code › Title 7 - AGRICULTURE › Part V-C - Farmland and Forest Land › Chapter 137b - PREFERENTIAL ASSESSMENT OF FARMLAND AND FOREST LAND UNDER THE CLEAN AND GREEN ACT › GENERAL PROVISIONS › Section 137b.2 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 54, No. 28, July 13, 2024
The following words and terms, when used in this chapter,
					 have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates
					 otherwise:
Act
-The Pennsylvania Farmland and Forest
					 Land Assessment Act of 1974 (72 P. S. §§
											5490.1-5490.13), commonly referred to as the
					 Clean and Green Act.
Agricultural commodity
-Any of the
					 following:
(i) Agricultural,
				  apicultural, aquacultural, horticultural, floricultural, silvicultural,
				  viticultural and dairy products.
(ii) Pasture.
(iii) Livestock and the products
				  thereof.
(iv) Ranch-raised
				  furbearing animals and the products thereof.
(v) Poultry and the products of
				  poultry.
(vi) Products commonly
				  raised or produced on farms which are intended for human consumption or are
				  transported or intended to be transported in commerce.
(vii) Processed or manufactured products of
				  products commonly raised or produced on farms which are intended for human
				  consumption or are transported or intended to be transported in
				  commerce.
(viii) Compost.
Agricultural reserve
-Noncommercial open
					 space lands used for outdoor recreation or the enjoyment of scenic or natural
					 beauty and open to the public for that use, without charge or fee, on a
					 nondiscriminatory basis. The term includes land devoted to the development and
					 operation of an alternative energy system, if a majority of the energy annually
					 generated is utilized on the tract.
Agricultural use
-Land which is used for
					 the purpose of producing an agricultural commodity or is devoted to and meets
					 the requirements and qualifications for payments or other compensation under a
					 soil conservation program under an agreement with an agency of the Federal
					 government.
(i) The term includes any
				  farmstead land on the tract.
(ii)
				  The term includes a woodlot.
(iii)
				  The term includes land which is rented to another person and used for the
				  purpose of producing an agricultural commodity.
(iv) The term includes land devoted to the
				  development and operation of an alternative energy system, if a majority of the
				  energy annually generated is utilized on the tract.
Agritainment
-
(i) Farm-related tourism or farm-related
				  entertainment activities which are permitted or authorized by a landowner in
				  return for a fee on agricultural land for recreational or educational
				  purposes.
(ii) The term includes
				  corn mazes, hay mazes, farm tours and hay rides.
(iii) The term does not include activities
				  authorized under section 8(d) of the act (72 P. S. §
											5490.8(d)).
Alternative energy system
-A facility or
					 energy system that utilizes a Tier I energy source to generate alternative
					 energy. The term includes a facility or system that generates alternative
					 energy for utilization onsite or for delivery of the energy generated to an
					 energy distribution company or to an energy transmission system operated by a
					 regional transmission organization.
Assessment ratio or county's established
					 predetermined ratio
-The ratio established by a taxing body that
					 determines on what portion of the assessed value the millage rate is to be
					 levied, as prescribed by assessment law.
Capitalization rate
-The percentage rate
					 used to convert income to value, as determined by the most recent 5-year
					 rolling average of 15-year fixed loan interest rates offered to landowners by
					 the Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation or other similar Federal
					 agricultural lending institution, adjusted to include the landowner's risk of
					 investment and the effective tax rate.
Change of use
-
(i) The alteration of enrolled land so that
				  it is no longer agricultural use, agricultural reserve or forest reserve
				  land.
(ii) The term does not
				  include:
(A) The act of subdividing enrolled
				  land if the subdivided land is not conveyed.
(B) The act of conveying subdivided enrolled
				  land to the same landowner who owned it immediately prior to
				  subdivision.