State and local governments have led the response to agricultural land conversion. Nearly every state has enacted some form of property tax relief for farmland and right-to-farm laws. Thirty-one states have authorized farmland protection programs, and 16 have agricultural district programs that provide a variety of benefits including protection from eminent domain and municipal annexation. Local governments also have addressed the challenge. This article describes the tools most commonly used locally to reduce farm and ranch land conversion and to permanently protect agricultural land.