Agricultural Conservation Easement Program

Description

The Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP) provides financial and technical assistance to land owners and organizations to maintain and enhance agricultural lands and their benefits. The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) provides financial assistance to eligible partners for purchasing Agricultural Land Easements that protect the agricultural use and conservation values of eligible land. In the case of working farms, the program helps farmers and ranchers keep their land in agriculture.

Eligibility & Requirements

Eligible partners include American Indian tribes, state and local governments and non-governmental organizations that have farmland, rangeland or grassland protection programs. To enroll, proposals can be submitted to the NRCS state office. Eligible partners enter into a cooperative agreement with NRCS. Each easement is required to have an agricultural land easement plan. Land eligible for agricultural easements includes cropland, rangeland, grassland, pastureland and nonindustrial private forest land. NRCS will prioritize applications that protect agricultural uses and related conservation values of the land and those that maximize the protection of contiguous acres devoted to agricultural use.

Awards

Under the Agricultural Land component, NRCS may contribute up to 50 percent of the fair market value of the agricultural land easement. Where NRCS determines that grasslands of special environmental significance will be protected, NRCS may contribute up to 75 percent of the fair market value of the agricultural land easement.

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