Bet The Farm On It

The American Farmland Trust and the University of California's Agricultural Issues Center have released a nationwide study on the use of easements to preserve farmland. "Agricultural easements allow landowners to sell the development rights on their farms to government or nonprofit organizations in exchange for agreeing to keep the land permanently available for agriculture. The use of farm easements has grown exponentially since the 1970s; today 26 states have at least one publicly funded easement program at the state or local level...The authors...concluded that agricultural easements have potential to complement local planning and land use policies to protect farmland, but have not yet fulfilled their promise due to lack of coordination and limited planning policies in some communities."

Thanks to David Gest