Agenda - Planning Commission - 06/06/2013

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Agricultural land that is not considered Prime Farmland may be considered "State-wide Important Farmland". This is land, in addition to prime farmlands, which is of statewide importance for the production of food, feed, fiber, forage, and oilseed crops. Generally, soils of statewide importance include those that are nearly prime and produce high yields of crops in an economic manner when treated and managed according to acceptable farming methods. Some may produce as high a yield as prime farmland soils if conditions are favorable. Table 25.1 lists the soil map units present on the proposed project site (also see Figure 12.2). Land within the project site was historically agricultural in nature. Commonly grown agricultural crops include corn and soybeans in the Hubbard coarse sand, Duelm loamy sand, Dickman sandy loam and portions of the Isan sandy loam. No agricultural activity occurred in soils designated as Marsh. As seen in the table, no soils on the property are designated as prime farmland; however, the Dickman sandy loam is considered a State-wide important farmland. The soil unit however, only consists of 0.5% of the total area of the site located in the far southwest corner (Figure 25.1). Project related impacts to prime farmland and State-wide important farmland are therefore considered to be minimal Table 25.1 RTC Site Soil Units Series Series Name Prime Farmland Percent Coverage No. Status in Project Area HuA/B/C Hubbard coarse sand None Dp Duelm loamy coarse sand None DnA Dickman sandy loam None* Is Isanti sandy loam None Mc Marsh None * - Identified as a State-wide Important Farmland, but not Prime Farmland. 77% 18% 0.5% 4% 0.5% The other area of farmland designation that exists is "Green Acres", which is more of a tax -based program to keep productive farmland in business than an environmental program. The acreage is shown here for information purposes. Figure 25.2 shows all of the Green Acres program acreage on the RTC site. 25-2