Every easement has a story. Some farmers enter an easement to protect their land’s legacy, others to receive cash-in-hand for reinvestment in operations. Increasingly, farm families use easements to transfer land to the next generation.

The Farmland Protection Profile series captures the stories of landowners who choose to protect their farms forever. In the profiles, American Farmland Trust interviews easement landowners to understand the motives behind their easement. Capturing the “why” of farmland protection demonstrates the values and stories that inform agricultural conservation easements and explores the context of rapidly changing farming landscapes.