Panel urges stronger, more flexible funding and certification for agricultural conservation easements

Tim Fink of American Farmland Trust told the subcommittee that agricultural conservation easements are essential to stemming farmland loss and recommended statutory and administrative changes to expand participation and speed transactions under the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP).

Fink summarized research showing high historic rates of farmland conversion and the role easements play in allowing landowners to extract equity while keeping land in agriculture. He outlined four benefits of easements—reinforcing reinvestment in agriculture, easing land transfer to new farmers, encouraging additional conservation practices, and supporting rural economies—and urged Congress to increase long‑term funding. "This is AFT's top farm bill priority since it will enable more farmers to protect their land and implement the very practices they need to build more profitable operations for decades to come," he said.

The committee bill discussed in testimony would increase the federal match in ACEP, offer a lower match option for program partners, streamline the Agricultural Land Easement (ALE) process by empowering certified entities to close easements faster, and remove an adjusted gross income (AGI) eligibility test for ALE to reduce closing times. Fink also urged transfer of unobligated IRA conservation dollars into the farm bill baseline as the most important step to increase overall ACEP capacity.

Ending: Members and witnesses supported easement reforms as a way to prevent farmland loss and improve program efficiency; committee requests included details on match levels and certification processes.