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The urban-farming movement in Utah's most-populous county has reached the Legislature, where Sen. Wayne Niederhauser wants to offer tax incentives to farms as tiny as 2 acres.

With property tax perks now available to farmers who plant 5 acres or more, the Sandy Republican has introduced a bill that would give Salt Lake County's small-scale growers a similar tax break.

Niederhauser hopes the measure would provide green-thumbed property owners a financial reason to keep their fields in production, even in a quickly growing county of more than a million residents.

"By allowing them to take the concept of the greenbelt," he said, "we can ensure that properties will stay in open space, producing food for a longer period of time."

SB82 would offer tax breaks to properties between 2 and 5 acres, as long as half the land is actively farmed.

The bill — now awaiting a hearing before the Senate Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Committee — comes amid a rural resurgence in Salt Lake County that has included community gardens, backyard hens and policies to transform fallow government lands into farm fields.

County Councilman Jim Bradley, whose efforts to create an urban-farming program have turned more than 30 acres of unused government lands into planting grounds for tomatoes, carrots and other veggies, called it a "terrific bill."

"It allows people who are doing serious food production on a small scale," he said, "to take advantage of the greenbelt status."

Indeed, the county is a solid supporter of the measure. Julie Peck-Dabling, who oversees the county's urban-farming program, hopes it would give private property owners more incentive to lease to growers. Higher taxes now discourage that.

The bill would apply only to Salt Lake County. It would have no financial impact on state and local governments, but it would affect taxpayers. The tax breaks given to farming plots would be recouped through slightly higher taxes on other properties, according to a fiscal note attached to the measure.

A portion of those taxes would have to be repaid if the land ever were removed from farming. —

Who would get a tax break?

SB82 would offer tax incentives to any small-scale farm in Salt Lake County that is between 2 and 5 acres, as long as half the land is farmed.