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When it comes to economic development, parts of Ohio are booming.

Major businesses are choosing our state to expand their footprint, and with that growth comes more jobs, more people and, most challenging, additional competition for land as towns become cities and the line between rural and urban is blurred even more.

This is nothing new for Ohio. In fact, 50 years ago urban sprawl was a concern of Ohio Farm Bureau members. There was justifiable anxiety that rapid development would drive up farmland property values and push farmers off of their land through increases in property taxes. Thankfully, that didn’t happen because of the newly created CAUV, or Current Agricultural Use Value Program.

Since its inception five decades ago, Ohio Farm Bureau has been constantly working to make sure CAUV works in an ever-changing agricultural environment. We led the way in program reforms in both 2015 and 2017 that made data in the formula more timely, reformed the capitalization rate to reflect the current farm economy and ensured that conservation lands were fairly valued.

Is the formula perfect? Absolutely not. Is CAUV still saving Ohio Farm Bureau members money on their tax bills? Without a doubt! In 2023, the taxable CAUV value was a mere 29% of the same property’s taxable market value. That adds up to real savings, really fast.

When it comes to CAUV, Ohio Farm Bureau is not only a valuable asset to our members. Our staff, along with their years of experience with the program, have become reliable resources for those who have questions about it, including landowners, lawmakers and even county auditors themselves who look for guidance on how to administer CAUV. No other organization can say that, and the value that knowledge brings to our members and interested parties will continue for the next 50 years.

You will learn all about the history of CAUV in this issue of Our Ohio, along with how the program impacts the economics of the family farm, its impact on conservation and farmland preservation, and the future of the program. On page 18 you can read a special column from President Bill Patterson. His message: Don’t take CAUV for granted. Just because the program is established doesn’t mean it’s not a target for powerful interest groups.

Ohio Farm Bureau is heavily involved and actively working on a solution to current CAUV challenges that will offer all property owners across Ohio a clear and predictable tax valuation system to ensure that Ohio agriculture remains the state’s No. 1 industry.