USDA Taking Comments for Ag Conservation Easement Program

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that the USDA is accepting public comments on its interim final rule for the new Agricultural Conservation Easement Program, which is designed to help producers protect working agricultural lands and wetlands. The 2014 farm bill consolidated three previous conservation easement programs into ACEP to make it easier for diverse agricultural landowners to fully benefit from conservation initiatives. Under ACEP's agricultural land component, tribes, state and local governments and non-governmental organizations that have farmland or grassland protection programs are eligible to partner with USDA to purchase conservation easements. NRCS easement programs have been a critical tool in recent years for advancing landscape-scale private lands conservation. Last year, NRCS used $328 million in ACEP funding to enroll an estimated 143,833 acres of farmland, grassland, and wetlands through 485 new easements...more