This Wednesday at 5:30PM the RI DEM is conducting a “Farmland Acquisition Rules and Regulations” workshop intended to take a huge step toward bringing under state control the small business farms in Rhode Island and to divert this money to future efforts to advance the RhodeMapRI/Land Use 2025 agenda.  Instead of helping small family farms advance their efforts to grow and prosper, the state wants to destroy their right to live and operate as they have for generations. 

The stated goal of Rhode Island’s Land Use 2025 plan is that “63 percent or more of the State’s landscape would remain as open, undeveloped land in 2025,” and this new initiative is the first big step forward.  Farms are being targeted because those that are left have been regulated into stagnation and represent one of the largest single percentages of the land throughout the state.

This assault on our family farms is insidiously scheduled for a public hearing on the same day the Washington County Fair is to open.  It is evident that this was intentionally done so that those who have prepared for the event all year have to choose between standing up for their rights or participating in the start of their most important event of the year.

Consider the audacity the state of Rhode Island enlists its power in regard to this property grab.  As stated in the document announcing the meeting and their intent to acquire family farms:

“The terms and provisions of these rules and regulations shall be liberally construed to permit the Department to effectuate the purposes of state law, goals and policies.”

In other words, as long as the rules are not specified, the unelected bureaucrats in the RI DEM will grant themselves the power to interpret these new rules and regulations in any way they see fit.

PRARI members are strongly advised to attend this meeting and show their support for the family farms that will be at the meeting and standing up for their rights.  This is the start of the slippery slope intended to destroy the property rights of every Rhode Islander.

Please share this information everywhere and join us on Wednesday.  Details:

235 Promenade Street
Room 300
Providence, Rhode Island 02908 

Cordially,

The volunteers of PRARI