Agricultural land is being lost at a rate of 2,000 acres per day. At the same time, purchases of farms—both protected and not—as second-home properties are on the rise, creating a real estate environment in many parts of the country in which the value of land far exceeds what a farmer can afford. Once land transitions out of farmer ownership, it rarely goes back.
The federal Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP) and Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) are two programs administered by the Natural Resources Conservation Service that provide funding through non-profits (such as land trusts), state and local agencies, and Tribes to protect farmland from development.
ACEP received $450 million per year in funding in the 2018 Farm Bill and RCPP was funded at $300 million per year. These funding levels should be maintained and increased to meet the challenge of farmland loss.