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House panel advances bill to create voluntary agricultural conservation easement program
Summary
The Indiana House Agriculture Committee heard testimony supporting House Bill 1234, which would let farmland owners donate or sell conservation easements to protect land for agricultural use and allow the State Department of Agriculture or qualified land trusts to hold those easements. Committee members voted to pass the measure as amended.
Representative (last name not specified in transcript) presented House Bill 1234 to the Indiana House Agriculture Committee, saying the bill would create a framework for willing farmland owners to donate or bequeath conservation easements to protect farm acreage for future agricultural use.
The bill, as explained by the author and several witnesses, would allow the Indiana State Department of Agriculture (ISDA) to accept and hold conservation easements, permit counties to establish their own farmland-protection programs, and make landowners eligible to apply for federal or other matching funds. The proposal does not include a state appropriation to purchase easements; donors could convey easements voluntarily or landowners could work with existing land trusts.
In testimony supporting the bill, Chris Reynolds, Midwest regional director for American Farmland…
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