The Farm and Ranch Land Protection Program (FRPP) provided matching funds to help purchase development rights to keep productive farm and ranchland in agricultural uses. Working through existing programs, USDA partnered with State, tribal, or local governments and non-governmental organizations to acquire conservation easements or other interests in land from landowners. USDA provided up to 50 percent of the fair market easement value of the conservation easement.

To qualify, farmland must: be part of a pending offer from a State, tribe, or local farmland protection program; be privately owned; have a conservation plan for highly erodible land; be large enough to sustain agricultural production; be accessible to markets for what the land produces; have adequate infrastructure and agricultural support services; and have surrounding parcels of land that can support long-term agricultural production.

The 2014 Farm Bill consolidated FRPP with two other programs, GRP and WRP, into the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP). As a result, the below rule has been updated, and current program information can be found on the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP) Rule page.