Impacts Of Agricultural Easement Programs On The Viability Of Local Agriculture

Farmland preservation has become an important pursuit for those seeking to protect the working landscape. One of the most common approaches for securing this protection is through the targeted use of agricultural conservation easements, typically perpetual land use agreements designed to limit incompatible activities in order to preserve future agricultural viability. Since the 1990s, agricultural conservation easements have protected millions of acres of land, and many of these donations have relied on the federal tax incentives provided by section 170(h) of the Internal Revenue Code to facilitate these transactions. Perhaps surprisingly given this high rate of utilization, securing farmland for future productive use is not an express objective of the Internal Revenue Code, which requires these donations to qualify on other grounds. This Article explores the impacts of this disconnect and examines options for how farmland preservation objectives could be better integrated into the current tax-incentivized conservation easement framework.

Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (US Natural Resources Conservation Service Regulation) (NRCS) (2018 Edition) The Law Library presents the complete text of the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (US Natural Resources Conservation Service Regulation) (NRCS) (2018 Edition). Updated as of May 29, 2018 The Agricultural Act of 2014 (the 2014 Act) consolidates the purposes of the Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program (FRPP), Grassland Reserve Program (GRP), and Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) into one easement program called the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP). ACEP restores, protects, and enhances wetland on eligible land; protects the agricultural use, viability, and related conservation values of eligible land by limiting non-agricultural uses of that land; and protects grazing uses and related conservation values by restoring and conserving eligible land. This interim rule with request for comments sets forth the policies and procedures related to implementation of ACEP as authorized by the 2014 Act. Since the Conservation Farm Option (CFO) is a repealed program that was never implemented, NRCS is replacing the CFO regulations at 7 CFR part 1468 with the regulations necessary to implement ACEP. This book contains: - The complete text of the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (US Natural Resources Conservation Service Regulation) (NRCS) (2018 Edition) - A table of contents with the page number of each section

"No farms, no food tells the story of the American Farmland Trust, illustrating the organization's role in developing key strategies to preserve farmland. AFT's significant contribution was bringing together farmers and environmentalists to protect working land from development, while instituting conservation management techniques. The organization helped develop the first conservation title in the farm bill and the USDA's Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP), which provides federal funding for local agricultural easement programs throughout the country. The book shows how the strategies used by AFT can be replicated to make further gains in protecting US farmland"-- Provided by publisher.