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Farm Bureau, state officials ask committee for $25 million to expand conservation easements for Utah farmland
Summary
Utah Farm Bureau and the Department of Agriculture and Food told legislators the state is losing farmland rapidly and asked the appropriations subcommittee to fund conservation easements with a $25 million request to leverage federal, local and private matching funds.
Representative Doug Owens introduced a request to the Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environmental Quality Appropriations Subcommittee seeking $25 million for agricultural land conservation, saying Utah’s agricultural heritage is threatened by rapid population growth.
Terry Camp, representing the Utah Farm Bureau, told the committee conservation easements let landowners receive capital while keeping farmland in agricultural use, that easements are customizable to protect property rights, and that Utah has lost about 2.7 million acres of farmland (roughly 20 percent) since 1960. He said owner/operator farmers are aging and that farmlands will transfer hands over the coming decades; conservation easements can create retirement capital while keeping agricultural use intact for future…
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