Land is a natural resource that cannot be replaced. State policies should reflect the urgency and scale of the threat to farmland conversion to non-agricultural uses by investing in farmland protection, and should prioritize farmer stewardship of conserved land.
State and local farmland protection programs encourage long-term stewardship of agricultural land by offering landowners financial incentives, supporting the development of local land use planning for efficient urban growth and protection of farmland, and enabling improvements of farmland and infrastructure to support long-term sustainability.
Existing state and local programs employ a range of tools to achieve these goals and require increased funding to expand program reach. Existing and new programs should prioritize projects that create pathways to secure land tenure for farmers, particularly for BIPOC farmers.
Background
Since 1982, developers have bulldozed, paved, and built homes on farmland across the country, permanently removing 25 million acres of land from farming—an area roughly the size of Indiana. This trend continues at a rate of more than 2,000 acres per day. Once farmland transitions to another use, it rarely goes back.
By providing financial and technical support for planning, implementing, and strengthening existing local and regional farmland protection programs, states can push back against farmland conversion threats and keep farmland accessible for beginning, young, and BIPOC farmers.
Many states across the country have established agricultural protection programs. Such programs should exist in all states to work with land trusts, counties, municipalities, Soil and Water Conservation Districts, resource conservation districts, regional park or open-space districts, and Tribal Governments.
Recommendations
(1) Establish, and significantly increase funding for, state farmland protection programs that work with land trusts, counties, municipalities, Soil and Water Conservation Districts, resource conservation districts, regional park or open-space districts, and Tribal Governments.
(2) Prioritize projects that protect farmland affordability and farmer ownership, and facilitate BIPOC land security. Examples of tools for this work include the Option to Purchase at Agricultural Value (OPAV), buy-protect-sell, and ground leases.
(3) Collaborate with diverse stakeholder impacted by the threat of farmland conversion and the challenges in securing access to land, to audit the impact of existing programs.