State and local governments in this country have adopted a number of policies to regulate the conversion of rural land to developed uses. One of the most significant and least understood is preferential assessment of rural land under the real property tax, often called use-value assessment (UVA) or current-use assessment. This book explains and analyzes the critical questions raised by this fiscal tool for farmland preservation. Under UVA, the assessments of various parcels of land within a given state may vary tremendously from property to property. A tract that is zoned residential with access to a turnpike might be assessed at $7,865 per acre. In the very same neighborhood, though, an even larger tract of vacant land might be assessed at a mere $127 per acre, which is far below the market value. How can there be such dramatic differences in the assessment of land values within the same community or neighborhood? Has the town assessor failed to treat property owners fairly and equally, as required by state law? Not at all. Nearly all states across the country permit, and even require, local assessors to value some parcels of undeveloped land far below their fair market values for the purpose of levying local property taxes. Despite their stated purpose of preserving rural lands from urban development, UVA programs can have unintended negative consequences. One is erosion of the legal and constitutional principle of uniformity of taxation; another is shifting of the local tax burden to other property owners, perhaps in a regressive manner. Occasionally UVA programs generate political controversy and even legislative action concerning "fake farmers" who enjoy low property tax bills, but whose land might only be used to sell firewood or Christmas trees to a few friends and neighbors. This volume explains the origins, key features, impacts, and flaws of use-value assessment programs across the United States. It describes in detail the process and characteristics of UVA programs in 44 states and recommends reforms. This book serves as a road map for public officials, scholars, and journalists concerned with agricultural taxation and land use issues.

For nearly four decades, China’s manufacturing boom has been powered by the labor of 287 million rural migrant workers, who travel seasonally between villages where they farm for subsistence and cities where they work. Yet recently local governments have moved away from manufacturing and toward urban expansion and construction as a development strategy. As a result, at least 88 million rural people to date have lost rights to village land. In Beneath the China Boom, Julia Chuang follows the trajectories of rural workers, who were once supported by a village welfare state and are now landless. This book provides a view of the undertow of China’s economic success, and the periodic crises—a rural fiscal crisis, a runaway urbanization—that it first created and now must resolve.

Whether the prospective buyer is a farmer or rancher looking to expand operations, a sportsman seeking to preserve habitat for wildlife, or a nature enthusiast trying to conserve native flora and fauna, acquiring rural land can be a rollercoaster of exciting and stressful experiences. In Buying Rural Land in Texas: Taking the Right Risk, Charles E. Gilliland demonstrates that buyers can and should arm themselves with knowledge—of the land-buying process, of the potential problems involved, and of the resources available to them—to ensure a successful and satisfying outcome. In this practical guide, Gilliland outlines four phases of buying rural land: identifying what you want, in terms of both land and property rights; locating a suitable property; valuing the property; and completing the transaction. He then covers everything the potential landowner should know while progressing through these steps: how to identify and manage risk, plan an “exit strategy,” interpret present and future land prices, find the “perfect spot,” evaluate the property’s physical attributes, gauge economic trends, understand legal rights and limitations, protect natural resources, and, finally, close the deal. Incorporating real life examples from a career spent in land sales, Gilliland takes readers step-by-step through the process, also providing checklists, maps, professional tips, and information about how to tap additional sources of information and advice. With the knowledge gained from Buying Rural Land in Texas, new landowners will find themselves not at the end of a journey but at the beginning, as they learn to manage their land and to deliver it intact to future generations.

Eleven proven steps that can help you add value to your land are identified and clearly explained by a leading land broker. The steps offered in this short book can help you sell your land faster by improving its overall desirability and helping it stand out among other rural real estate tracts on the market. Top land real estate agents and brokers will try to guide their clients to making reasonable improvements on their property in an effort to get a better price for their land and to help it sell faster. You, as the land owner, can often get these improvements done in simple and cost-effective ways. Your informed effort on the front end can often make your reward on the back more than worthwhile! You will be able to see how some of these steps look on real land tracts of various sizes by seeing some of RecLand's listings at http: //www.recland.net. Many of the rural properties listed there will serve as real life examples. You can also hear more practical information related to this by watching some of the videos at http: //www.reclandtalks.com. RecLand Realty is the Duck Commander and Buck Commander Endorsed Land Broker and sells hunting land, timberland, farms and ranches in Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Texas, Iowa and Missouri. We have a broad range of experience in selling land and land management and have captured some of that experience here to help you sell your land faster...or improve it for your own use and enjoyment. (tags: land, real estate, land agents, land brokers, land management, buying land, rural land, recreational land)

Whether the prospective buyer is a farmer or rancher looking to expand operations, a sportsman seeking to preserve habitat for wildlife, or a nature enthusiast trying to conserve native flora and fauna, acquiring rural land can be a rollercoaster of exciting and stressful experiences. In Buying Rural Land in Texas: Taking the Right Risk, Charles E. Gilliland demonstrates that buyers can and should arm themselves with knowledge—of the land-buying process, of the potential problems involved, and of the resources available to them—to ensure a successful and satisfying outcome. In this practical guide, Gilliland outlines four phases of buying rural land: identifying what you want, in terms of both land and property rights; locating a suitable property; valuing the property; and completing the transaction. He then covers everything the potential landowner should know while progressing through these steps: how to identify and manage risk, plan an “exit strategy,” interpret present and future land prices, find the “perfect spot,” evaluate the property’s physical attributes, gauge economic trends, understand legal rights and limitations, protect natural resources, and, finally, close the deal. Incorporating real life examples from a career spent in land sales, Gilliland takes readers step-by-step through the process, also providing checklists, maps, professional tips, and information about how to tap additional sources of information and advice. With the knowledge gained from Buying Rural Land in Texas, new landowners will find themselves not at the end of a journey but at the beginning, as they learn to manage their land and to deliver it intact to future generations.

Small is beautiful, and these 15 real farm plans show that small-scale farmers can have big-time success. Compact Farms is an illustrated guide for anyone dreaming of starting, expanding, or perfecting a profitable farming enterprise on five acres or less. The farm plans explain how to harness an area’s water supply, orientation, and geography in order to maximize efficiency and productivity while minimizing effort. Profiles of well-known farmers such as Eliot Coleman and Jean-Martin Fortier show that farming on a small scale in any region, in both urban and rural settings, can provide enough income to turn the endeavor from hobby to career. These real-life plans and down-and-dirty advice will equip you with everything you need to actually realize your farm dreams.

Negotiating Rural Land Ownership in Southwest China offers the first comprehensive analysis of how China’s current system of land ownership has evolved over the past six decades. Based on extended fieldwork in Yunnan Province, the author explores how the three major rural actors—local governments, village communities, and rural households—have contested and negotiated land rights at the grassroots level, thereby transforming the structure of rural land ownership in the People’s Republic of China. At least two million rural settlements (or “natural villages”) are estimated to exist in China today. Formed spontaneously out of settlement choices over extended periods of time, these rural settlements are fundamentally different from the present-day administrative villages imposed by the government from above. Yi Wu’s historical ethnography sheds light on such “natural villages” and their role in shaping the current land ownership system. Drawing on local land disputes, archival documents, and rich local histories, the author unveils their enduring social identities in both the Maoist and reform eras. She pioneers the concept of “bounded collectivism” to describe what resulted from struggles between the Chinese state trying to establish collective land ownership, and rural settlements seeking exclusive control over land resources within their traditional borders. A particular contribution of this book is that it provides a nuanced understanding of how and why China’s rural land ownership is changing in post-Mao China. Yi Wu uses village-level data to show how local governments, rural communities, and rural households compete for use, income, and transfer rights in both agricultural production and the land market. She demonstrates that the current rural land ownership system in China is not a static system imposed by the state from above, but a constantly changing hybrid.