Welcome to the Delaware Department of Agriculture website. I hope you will use this as a means of learning more about the Department and its services and more about Delaware Agriculture. The Department's mission is to sustain and promote the viability of food, fiber, and agricultural industries in Delaware through quality services that protect and enhance the environment, health, and welfare of the general public. We have a dedicated staff who strive effectively and efficiently to accomplish the Department's mission. I invite you to call the Department for information, assistance, and services.

As Secretary of Agriculture and a working farmer, my overriding responsibility is to protect and enhance the sustainability of Delaware's agriculture industry. The job description over the last four years has included fighting avian influenza, helping our farmers develop new markets for their products, and operating one of the nation's most successful farmland preservation programs.

In my book, the job also means ensuring that the future of our industry is protected from sprawl - leapfrog development that gobbles up valuable farmland and makes it tougher for farmers to operate their businesses, get their products to market and maintain a cohesive agricultural community that doesn't clash with residential development.

That is why I believe so strongly in Governor Minner's proposed Livable Delaware legislation that would prevent development from spreading farther and farther into our state's rural areas. We are calling it the Sprawl Prevention Act.

The state, counties and towns have worked cooperatively to agree on where growth should occur and where it should be discouraged. All three counties have designated growth areas where they have invested heavily and will continue to invest in sanitary sewer and treatment plants; meanwhile, the state agrees to invest in roads, schools, libraries and other services within those growth zones.

In Kent County's growth zone, which runs down the middle of the county from Smyrna to Milford, there is enough room to accommodate more than 60 years of development. Much to the county's credit, 83 percent of the recent development approved under Kent's comprehensive plan will occur inside that zone.

But community septic or wastewater systems - hooking up many homes to one on-site treatment and disposal system - allow larger and more dense developments to be established in rural areas with little or no services or infrastructure. The Sprawl Prevention Act would not permit those stand-alone systems in what our State Strategies for Policies and Spending call Level IV Investment Areas - the most rural areas of the state. It would also require a minimum of four acres for individual septic systems in those Level IV areas.

New Castle County already has a very similar policy on community wastewater systems and individual septic systems in its rural zones. Kent County is considering an ordinance that mirrors our legislation. We hope to make the permitting restrictions statewide with our legislation.

I've told you about the agricultural reasons for supporting this legislation. I've also heard plenty from people - farmers and non farmers alike- who think growth is occurring too rapidly and haphazardly in our state. What will our quality of life be, what will happen to our green spaces and natural habitat, and who will still want to live, visit and work here if development can sprawl virtually anywhere in the state? What are we leaving for future generations who want to farm or enjoy the open spaces we have today?

Developments in rural areas require us, the state taxpayers, to pay for inefficient growth. More people driving longer distances require road improvements to accommodate their commutes, adding to our air quality challenges. We're funding 100 percent of those long school-bus rides and 100 percent of DART Paratransit services. It drives up our utility rates. It puts even more strain on emergency services and lengthens response times to fires and accidents.

Studies in Delaware and across the country show that stand-alone residential development generates less in revenues than it demands in services - while agribusiness and commercial development more than pay their share. So we all are forced to subsidize sprawl, no matter where in the state in occurs.

We, the taxpayers, have made a significant investment ($103 million to date with another $9 million proposed for this coming fiscal year) in farmland preservation. Sprawl devalues our investment and hurts the farmer who made the long-term commitment not to develop his or her land.

In areas of the country such as Lancaster County and Napa Valley, where the agricultural industry is highly valued, profitable and protected from sprawl, farmland prices have significantly appreciated. Given our strategic location on the East Coast, we can expect to see increases in our farmland values as well - if we don't sell out to sprawl for short-term gain.

I am a farmer, not a future developer. There are many of us who view agriculture as a way of life that is fundamental to Delaware's heritage, its economy and its future. My job as Secretary of Agriculture is to keep it that way.