Indiana Farmland At Risk

Over the past two years, nearly $2 million available to preserve Indiana farmland has gone unused. The state loses about 100,000 acres of farmland annually.

The federal funding, administered through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, acquires easements that limit residential or commercial development on protected farmland.

While many counties in the greater Indianapolis area have already seen the rapid conversion of farmland to development, there is still hope to preserve farms in more rural parts of the state.

Indiana does not have a state farmland preservation program in place that could help provide the required 25 percent match to qualify for the USDA funding, although there is hope to establish state support for such efforts.