USDA Announces Funding for Farm Land Preservation

EAST LANSING, Mich. – April 3, 2006 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced the availability of over $70 million to preserve prime farmland.

The funds are available through the Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program administered by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. Funds through FRPP are awarded to state, tribal and local governments and qualified non-governmental organizations on a competitive basis. Successful applicants use the funds to purchase conservation easements, sometimes called development rights, on farmland threatened with conversion to non-agricultural use. Proposals for FRPP funds must be received at the NRCS state office in East Lansing no later than 5 p.m. May 11, 2006.

FRPP funds can be used to pay up to 50 percent of the fair market value for purchasing a conservation easement with the applicant providing at least 50 percent. Half of the applicant’s 50 percent match can be contributed by the landowner. Applicants must have pending offers to purchase the conservation easement when submitting their proposal.

The applications are ranked for funding priority based on the percentage of prime farmland in the parcel, threat of development, viability for continued agricultural use and a designation for agricultural use under a local land-use plan.

The Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program is voluntary, with landowners applying to the local grant recipient for a one-time payment in exchange for future development rights on their land. When an easement is purchased the land must be managed under a Resource Management System Conservation Plan, approved by NRCS, that requires practices to protect soil and water resources.

For more information contact Jim Marshall, FRPP Coordinator at (517) 324-5257 or go to www.mi.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/frpp.html.

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