I agree with your sentiment but unfortunately you got good info. Only land with the ag exemption in place is eligible for conversion to habitat exemption.
I got lucky in that the land I bought did have ag exemption.
The program is a great deal for me, as we bought the land to use as a 40 acre wildlife habitat with a couple acres for a house and gardening anyway. But it does require that you make improvements every year, and file a plan for said improvements to the county. But all in all, a great plan.
I suspect the reason for the ag exemption prerequisite is pretty simple - counties would lose a boatload of tax revenue if everyone who could legitimately claim this exemption were allowed to /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
on edit: If your property is fenced, maybe you could find a way to get a legit ag exemption for a time, then convert...