Agricultural/Forestal Districts (AFDs)
Updated: Oct 4
Friends of Nelson Presentation on Sept. 24, 2026 – Agricultural/Forestal Districts (AFDs)
Three of the methods that are promoted in the Nelson County Comprehensive Plan to protect rural lands are AFDs, Use-Value Tax Deferral Program, and conservation/open space easements. Each method has stand-alone requirements, goals, and results, but they often complement each other and work in tandem.
screenshot of AFDs in nelson county.
AFDs
In 1977, Virginia was the first state in the country to enact legislation to allow the creation of Ag/Forestal Districts (AFDs) to protect agricultural and forestal land. The remaining 49 states have since enacted legislation that allows the establishment of similar districts. Hawaii was the last state to do so in 2013.
Purpose as stated in the VA State code AFD Act:
To encourage localities to conserve, protect, and encourage the development and improvement of their agricultural and forestal lands for the production of food and other agricultural and forestal products.
To conserve and protect agricultural and forestal lands as valued natural and ecological resources which provide essential open spaces for clean air sheds, watershed protection, wildlife habitat, aesthetic quality and other environmental purposes.
The Virginia Farm Bureau states that AFDs can offer greater protection than zoning. Their website states that agricultural zoning (which is A-1 in Nelson) can actually encourage low-density residential sprawl, while AFDs discourage land uses not in keeping with agricultural, forestal, or open space land uses. Additionally, zoning regulations can change with elections, so AFDs can provide a higher level of certainty that farms and forests and other open space lands will be maintained. AFDs restrict the powers of local, state, and, to some extent, the federal government to make decisions detrimental to agricultural and rural land uses within AFDs.
AFDs can only be created in localities that have passed a local AFD Ordinance. Nelson passed its Ordinance in 2002. Of the 95 counties in VA, 31 localities have enabled AFD ordinances.
The manner in which AFDs are utilized and managed can vary according to the county in which they are located. For example, some localities mandate that all AFDs be reviewed within a specified number of years. Nelson County does not review AFDs unless a request to do so is received.
Some examples of the ways AFDs are managed by localities:
Size of AFD core: State code requires a minimum of 200 contiguous acres that forms the core of an AFD. The core is the area around which an AFD can expand. Nelson requires 200 contiguous acres for the core.
Fairfax and Loudoun allow “local” AFDs as small as 20 acres consisting of a single parcel. Small AFDs cannot be subdivided or used for purposes other than agriculture, horticulture, or forestry for a period of eight years without triggering severe penalties.
Cost to create a new AFD: State code authorizes a locality to charge a fee of up to $500 to create an AFD, and a similar fee to any landowner who wants to withdraw land from an existing AFD. Currently, Nelson charges $300 to create a new AFD and the fee amount is usually split among the applicants. (Only one landowner has ever withdrawn land from an AFD in Nelson, and they were charged $300.)
Fauquier County does not charge a flat fee for the creation of an AFD. Instead, it charges a $100 fee per parcel from each landowner applying to join an AFD.
Parcel sizes:
In Nelson, there is no size restriction on parcels, but small properties distant from the edge of an AFD are not accepted unless they have outstanding features that should be preserved. The reason for this is that AFDs help county planners with zoning and permits, and the presence of an AFD is taken into consideration for activities that might take place in the surrounding area.
Louisa County accepts parcels smaller than one acre in size even if they are farther than a mile from the edge of an AFD.
With few exceptions, Fauquier does not want parcels in AFDs to be smaller than 25 acres in size.
Albemarle does not allow parcels without development rights to join an AFD.
Use-Value Tax Deferral Program
In 1974, Virginia passed state-wide legislation to enable localities to provide tax relief to landowners in order to preserve agricultural, horticultural and forested uses of land and open space. As with the AFD program, Virginia was the first state in the country to enable this type of program. At the time, a few states had local and regional taxation programs, but none of the states had a state-wide program like the one in Virginia. Use-value taxation is now found in some form in all 50 states, with the explicit purpose of benefit to the public through the reduction of tax burden on owners of land used in producing food, fiber, and timber.
Each year, the State Land Evaluation Advisory Council determines use-value estimates of eligible land for each jurisdiction that participates in the program. The Council is composed of the Virginia Tax Commissioner, the Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, the Virginia Commission of Agriculture and Consumer Services, the State Forester, and the Virginia Director of the Department of Conservation and Recreation. The value set by the Council for land in each of four categories – agriculture, horticulture, forestry and open space – is the basis upon which the tax rate is determined. The deferred tax under this program is the difference between the annual tax owed based on fair market value and the annual tax based on the use value.
As with AFDs, localities must adopt a local ordinance in order to implement the Use-Value Tax Deferral Program (commonly referred to as land-use). Localities are not required to enable all four categories. Nor are they required to use the values published by the State Land Evaluation Advisory Council, but counties generally use those values as the basis for their taxation on land. Nelson uses three categories – agriculture, horticulture, and forestry. The open space category is used primarily in counties experiencing high growth pressures.
The use-value taxation program encourages the continued use of land for agriculture, horticulture and forestry products, which in turn preserves scenic natural beauty and open spaces. One goal of the program is to promote wise land-use planning and the orderly development of real estate for the accommodation of an expanding population.
In order to take advantage of use-value taxation, a landowner must fill out an application and pay the associated administration fee. Renewal is required every six years or any time that ownership of land changes. The fee schedule can vary widely within counties. For example:
The fee in Nelson is $50/parcel.
In Loudoun, the fee is $125 per parcel plus $1 per acre.
At least five counties require a forestry management plan in order to obtain the forestry tax deferral. There is no such requirement in Nelson.
AFDs as they pertain to Use-Value Taxation
One of the benefits of putting land into an AFD is that any land that meets the state requirements for land use taxation will be guaranteed the appropriate category of land use taxation. This would be the case even if a locality pulled out of the Use-Value Tax Deferral Program, meaning that land within an AFD would still be eligible for the program. However, the AFD state code is worded in such a way that it leaves it up to localities to decide if a fee is required to apply or reapply for land use taxation for land in an AFD. There is no public, statewide list of counties that either waive or charge a reapplication fee to obtain use-value taxation for land in an AFD.
A recent check of seven counties that have AFDs revealed that all of them charge an initial and a reapplication fee. Northampton County is unique in the state in that land that meets the requirements for use value assessment under state code is only eligible to receive the lower tax benefits if it is placed in an AFD or a conservation easement. As a result, about half of the land in that county is in an AFD.
Only a handful of counties lack both an AFD ordinance and a Use-Value Tax Deferral Program.
Conservation and Open-space Easements in AFDs
These types of easements are designed to protect land. They are voluntary, legally binding agreements that permanently limit development on private land in order to protect its conservation values while allowing the landowner to retain ownership and use. In return for agreeing to certain restrictions on land use (such as surrendering development rights), easements often provide state and federal tax benefits.
There are two acts that cover easements in Virginia. Chapter 17 in the Code of Virginia covers open-space easements. These easements are held by public bodies such as state agencies, counties and municipalities, soil and water conservation districts, and public parks. Chapter 10.1 covers conservation easements held by private land trusts.
Nelson has six AFDs – Dutch Creek, Findlay Mountain, Davis Creek, Greenfield, Glass Hollow, and Fork Mountain. A total of 170 families have put close to 13,000 acres into these AFDs. Within the AFDs, 12 properties with more than 1,500 acres are under conservation or open space easements with four different private and public organizations. Due to the fact that easements are in perpetuity, reapplication for land use is not required, so reapplication fees are not charged. However, easement lands are treated like all other parcels when it comes to the steps required to create an AFD or to withdraw from one.
Among the public agencies that hold open-space easements in Nelson are the Virginia Outdoors Foundation, the Virginia Department of Forestry, and the Department of Conservation and Recreation. Private land trusts that hold easements in Nelson include The Nature Conservancy, the Central Virginia Land Conservancy, and the Virginia Land Trust. Each of these organizations have varying parameters that guide their decisions to hold easements, such as parcel size, location, and amount of forest cover.
For more information on these and other topics, visit the County’s Comprehensive Plan
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