Master Plan Farmland Preservation

The Warner family CEO said multi-generational farm properties were newly tagged as farmland preservation without notice, and asked that farmers have a voice rather than lose development rights without compensation.

A Baldwin County Cattle Association board member argued the preservation designation would devalue farmers' retirement land and won't actually save farms, since most cattlemen are near retirement age.

A fourth-generation Belforest farmer said lower land values would hurt his operating-loan borrowing power and could be the final blow for struggling farm operations.

Representing his family's farmland, he opposed the ag-preservation designation, citing five years of failed attempts to sell land and a buyer who walked away over $2 million in infrastructure costs for six lots.