How Can an Agricultural Conservation Easement Protect Your Property?
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) offers landowners with a variety of easement programs to maintain or enhance their land. These programs provide them with technical help and financial assistance to protect their land.
One program that landowners with farm, forest or wetlands can really benefit from is the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP). This program helps conserve agricultural lands and wetlands and their benefits and is one of the most effective ways to protect land for farming.
ACEP is actually a consolidation of three earlier NRCS programs (Wetlands Reserve Program, Grasslands Reserve Program and Farm and Ranch Land Protection Program) as part of the 2014 Farm Bill. It has two easement enrollment components:
- Agricultural Land Easements
Landowners with cropland, rangeland, grassland, pastureland and nonindustrial private forest land are eligible to enroll their land through an agricultural easement. This component helps protect farms by keeping the land available for agriculture and limiting non-agricultural development. ACEP benefits the land itself by providing additional public benefits such as historic preservation and environmental quality.
Under an agricultural land easement component, NRCS provides “up to 50 percent of the fair market value of the easement. For grasslands of special environmental significance, NRCS may contribute up to 75 percent of the fair market value of the easement.”
- Wetland Reserve Easements
Those who wish to enroll their land through a wetland reserve easement must have a “farmed or converted wetland that can be successfully and cost-effectively restored,” according to NRCS. The purpose of a wetland reserve easement is to help restore, protect and enhance wetlands. They help the environment by reducing flooding and improving water quality and wildlife habitats. Wetland properties that have been put back in their natural state are also usually highly desirable by land buyers. Under this component, NRCS provides between 50 and 75 percent of the compensation that would be paid for a permanent easement.
Landowners interested in applying for ACEP should contact their local NRCS office and local land professional.
Read more: An Introduction to Conservation Easements