Land Access Policies and Programs
- Federal
- State
- Local
Federal
There are a few key federal programs that support land access. While these programs are not primarily designed for land access and do not fully address land access challenges, they can be an important tool for accessing land or transferring a farm or ranch.
Agricultural Conservation Easement Program
The Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP), administered by USDA NRCS, is a voluntary conservation program that protects agricultural land from conversion to non-farm uses and conserves and restores wetlands.
Under the Agricultural Land Easements (ALE) component of ACEP, USDA NRCS partners with eligible entities to buy agricultural conservation easements on working agricultural lands, keeping land available for agriculture and limiting non-farm development. While easements alone do not guarantee future affordability or land access for beginners, protecting the land from development ensures land will be available for future producers. By selling the development rights, landowners can use additional funds to plan for a transfer of management to an incoming producer. Additionally, permanently protected land is usually more affordable because the agricultural conservation easement limits future non-farm development, which decreases the fair market value.
Conservation Reserve Program - Transition Incentives Program
Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) is administered by the Farm Service Agency (FSA). In exchange for a yearly rental payment farmers enrolled in the program agree to remove environmentally sensitive land from agricultural production. The long-term goal of the program is to re-establish valuable land cover to help improve water quality, prevent soil erosion and reduce loss of wildlife habitat. The 2008 Farm Bill authorized the Transition Incentives Program (TIP), a program that encourages landowners with expiring CRP contracts to sell or lease their land to beginning or socially disadvantaged farmers. Current CRP enrollees are offered up to two additional annual rental payments. In exchange, the new landowners or tenants return the land to production using sustainable grazing or farming methods.
Heirs’ Property Relending Program
The Heirs’ Property Relending Program makes loans to intermediary lenders, who then relend the funds to heirs’ property owners. Heirs may use the loans to resolve title issues by financing the purchase or consolidation of property interests and financing costs associated with a succession plan. This creates a pathway for families with heirs’ property to pass on land to their next generation of farmers or ranchers.
Increasing Land, Capital, and Market Access Program
The Increasing Land, Capital, and Market Access Program helps underserved producers by increasing land, capital, and market access. Within it, the Increasing Land Access Program is intended to increase access to farm ownership opportunities, increasing access and improving results for those with heirs’ property or fractionated land, and increasing land ownership, land succession, and agricultural business planning. This program was recently created through Section 1006 of the American Rescue Plan Act, as amended by Section 22007 of the Inflation Reduction Act.
State
Many states have implemented approaches to support incoming producers’ access to agricultural land. There are a few key categories of approaches, tax credits, agricultural easement adaptations, leasing, land linking, and providing direct financial support. Below you will find examples and resources for each.
The following tools can be used by state governments to support pathways to land access.
Beginning Farmer Tax Credits
Beginning Farmer Tax Credits (BFTC) create financial incentives for landowners who make land available to beginning farmers or ranchers. Details vary from state to state, but typically a landowner will receive a personal property tax exemption or a tax credit in exchange for making land or equipment available to a beginning producer. As of September 2023, six states Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio, and Pennsylvania have implemented BFTC programs.
Read
BFTC Program Information and Comparisons: Research on Land Access Policy Incentives for Beginning Farmer and Ranchers
Survey of Beginning Farmer Tax Credit Participants: State Summaries
Income Tax Credits to Assist Beginning Farmers and Ranchers: A Look at State Level Policies
Beginning Farmer Tax Credit and Custom Farming Contract Tax Credit: Tax Credits Program Evaluation Study
Buy-Protect-Sell Programs
Buy-Protect-Sell (BPS), also known as Preemptive Purchase Right, is a successful strategy used by some public agencies and land trusts to protect land and facilitate its transfer to a beginning farmer or rancher. A public agency or land trust will work with partners to place an easement on the property and then sell the protected property to a farmer or rancher at its agricultural value.
Washington state created the Farmland Protection and Land Access (FPLA) program in 2022. FPLA complements the “Buy-Protect-Sell” category of the Farm Protection and Affordability Investment (Farm PAI), a program of the Washington State Housing Finance Commission. FPLA serves the dual purpose of permanently protecting high-quality farmland and facilitating access to land for next-generation farmers and ranchers.
FarmPAI provides conservation entities with low-interest loans for the fee-simple acquisition of at-risk farmland. FPLA grants fund the purchase of an agricultural conservation easement. The agricultural conservation easement ensures the land stays open and available for farming in perpetuity. By restricting or removing certain development rights that are incompatible with agriculture, FPLA-funded agricultural conservation easements make farmland more affordable for the future farm owner.
Down Payment Assistance Programs
A new and rare approach to land access, down payment assistance programs provide direct financial support to beginning farmers and ranchers to purchase land.
In 2023, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) opened the down payment assistance grant which offers up to $15,000 to qualified farmers purchasing their first farm. The program is administered by the MDA’s Rural Finance Authority (RFA). In fiscal year 2024, one million dollars is approved to go to farmers earning less than $250,000 in gross agricultural sales.
Farm Purchase and Protection Programs
Farm and Ranch Purchase and Protection Programs protect farmland through an agricultural conservation easement and create additional affordability mechanisms to support incoming farmers and
ranchers access land. These approaches loan money to buyers who can then purchase and protect land simultaneously. The easement proceeds are passed through to the original seller.
A distinctive difference between this approach and Buy-Protect-Sell (BPS) Programs, is that these programs give funding to a land seeker to purchase and protect an identified property. BPS programs purchase, protect, and then sell a property to a beginner.
Delaware and Maryland have implemented successful programs to help first time farm buyers afford land.
Delaware Young Farmers Loan Program helps young farmers buy land while advancing the state’s farmland protection goals. The program, administered by the Delaware Agricultural Lands Preservation Foundation, provides 30 – year no-interest loans for land acquisition in exchange for a permanent agricultural conservation easement on the land being purchased.
Maryland Next Gen Programs are managed by the Maryland Agricultural & Resource Based-Industry Development Corporation (MARBIDCO). They run two programs, one for purchase of over 50 acres (Next Gen Program), and one for purchase of 10-49 acres, or the Small Acreage Next Generation program (SANG). In the former program, MARBIDCO will loan up to 51% of the fair market value to a NextGen farmer. In SANG, MARBIDCO will loan between 40-60% of the fair market value to a NextGen farmer looking to purchase under 50 acres of land. In both programs, the farmer then has several years to find a preservation program which will place a permanent agricultural conservation easement on the land.
Land Link Programs
Land link programs, also known as Farm Link, are designed to make connections between landowners and land seekers. While programs vary from state to state, they typically involve a website or listing service, for landowners and land seekers to advertise land they have or land they are looking for. Some programs employ staff to help facilitate connections, others make contact information available for owners and seekers to connect online. Some operate in partnership with private or non-profit organizations.
Option to Purchase at Agricultural Value
Option to Purchase at Agricultural Value (OPAV) is a voluntary legal agreement that requires that land conserved through a farmland conservation easement program is sold at a price that reflects its agricultural value, rather than a price influenced by non-farming market demand. An OPAV may be placed when a landowner sells or donates land to a trust or government agency. While not entirely effective for affordability when used alone, OPAVs are successful in keeping land at agricultural value.
Land Trusts have been making use of this affordability approach. Massachusetts and Vermont state programs are now including OPAV language in their easements.
Purchase of Agricultural Conservation Easement Programs
Purchase of Agricultural Conservation Easement programs (PACE), also known as Purchase of Development Rights (PDR), protect agricultural land from conversion to non-farm use. Landowners voluntarily sell agricultural conservation easements to a government agency or private conservation organization that is responsible for enforcing the easement. Conservation easements restrict further development of the property while allowing landowners to retain other rights of ownership.
PACE programs, alone, do not guarantee future affordability or land access for beginners. However, proceeds from the sale of easements provide capital for landowners to invest in their operations or retirement. This funding can help facilitate the transfer of agricultural land to the next generation.
Additionally, permanently protected land is usually more affordable because the agricultural conservation easement limits future non-farm development, which decreases the fair market value.
State Leasing Programs
Most states have statutes to allow leasing of state-owned land for agriculture. This can be an affordable option for beginning farmers and ranchers to access.
Local
County and municipal governments can have meaningful impact on land access in their communities. Many of the state tools can be adapted at a local level. The tools below can be used by local agencies to support beginning farmers and ranchers accessing land.
Buy Protect Sell
Buy-Protect-Sell (BPS), also known as Preemptive Purchase Right, is a successful strategy used by some public agencies and land trusts to protect land and facilitate its transfer to a beginning farmer or rancher. A public agency or land trust will work with partners to place an easement on the property and then sell the protected property to a farmer or rancher at its agricultural value.
Farm Purchase and Protection Programs
Farm and Ranch Purchase and Protection Programs protect farmland through an agricultural conservation easement and create additional affordability mechanisms to support incoming farmers and ranchers access land. These approaches loan money to buyers who can then purchase and protect land simultaneously. The easement proceeds are passed through to the original seller.
A distinctive difference between this approach and Buy-Protect-Sell (BPS) Programs, is that these programs give funding to a land seeker to purchase and protect an identified property. BPS programs purchase, protect, and then sell a property to a beginner.
The Critical Farms Program Statue directs the Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation (MALPF) to establish a Critical Farms Program to provide interim or emergency financing for the acquisition of agricultural preservation easements on farms that would otherwise be sold for non-agricultural uses. The program enables counties to purchase option on conservation easements from farmers who are under contract to purchase qualified farmland. In exchange, the farmers are required to apply to one of the state’s two programs, MALPF or the Rural Legacy program.
The Critical Farms Option Agreement requires the applicant (buyer) to sell a conservation easement to MALPF. At settlement of the easement, the amount paid by the County toward the land purchase is returned to the County while remaining dollars go to the owner.
Land Banks
Land banks are public authorities or non-profit organizations established to acquire and repurpose or revitalize abandoned, vacant, tax delinquent, or distressed properties. They are solely focused on converting problem properties into productive use to meet local community goals.
Leasing Programs
Municipalities and counties with available land can lease land to beginning farmers and ranchers. This can support them accessing secure and affordable land as they start or expand their operations.
Read
Leasing Land to Farmers: A Handbook for New England Land Trusts, Municipalities, and Institutions
City of Boulder OSMP Agriculture Program Webpage
Guidelines for Boulder County Open Space Agricultural Leases
Farmland ConneCTions: A Guide for Connecticut Towns, Institutions and Land Trusts Using or Leasing Farmland
Purchase of Agricultural Conservation Easement programs (county and town)
Purchase of Agricultural Conservation Easement programs (PACE), also known as Purchase of Development Rights (PDR), protect agricultural land from conversion to non-farm use. Landowners voluntarily sell agricultural conservation easements to a government agency or private conservation organization that is responsible for enforcing the easement. Conservation easements restrict further development of the property while allowing landowners to retain other rights of ownership.
PACE programs, alone, do not guarantee future affordability or land access for beginners. However, proceeds from the sale of easements provide capital for landowners to invest in their operations or retirement. This funding can help facilitate the transfer of agricultural land to the next generation.
Additionally, permanently protected land is usually more affordable because the agricultural conservation easement limits future non-farm development, which decreases the fair market value.
Zoning
NEED ZONING TEXT
