Conservation provisions included in the Farm Bill just passed by Congress will provide significant funding for easements to protect working farms and croplands. In addition, previously required matching funds from land trusts or local governments were exchanged for match alternatives to help ensure that a lack of local funding does not exclude protection of strategically important conservation opportunities. 

Farm Bill Programs such as CREP (Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program) and FRPP (Farm and Ranchlands Protection Program) can be a complex alphabet soup, but they do, along with donated and purchased easements, serve to keep working farms in family hands and reinvest dollars in our community.