Laws vary from state to state, but you should pursue this through your local ag office. Don't volunteer that you have been spoken to the corp.
In Virginia, you don't necessarily have to have livestock to qualify for the farming exemption. Is your land zoned agricultural? If so you can say you intend to grow hay, want to improve the pasture and have the potential to irrigate in times of drought conditions. Even say that you may at some time have cattle or other livestock on the property.
I am in the process of clearing cutting 60 acres and then developing the raw land in to pasture with two ponds. The soil and water folks want all pine plantations reseeded, but you have the right to clear the land for ag uses. Once that was out of the way, I had to indicate that I wanted the option to irrigate and may have livestock in the future. Horses will not qualify. I only had to state my intentions, if I never put the land in pasture I may have some issues with these folks concerning erosion, but I don't think they care at this point if the new pasture every has a hay crop or if livestock ever sets hoof on the place.
I would recommend you go back to the local folks to see what support they can give you. Remember, they are there to help farmers, so just pretend a little like it has always been a dream of yours to have a "farmette" or ranch.
Good luck.
