House agriculture committee advances bill to allow donation of farmland conservation easements without state purchase funds

Indiana House Agriculture Committee — Chairman Aylesworth led a committee hearing and a later committee vote that advanced House Bill 1234, a measure to create a framework for farmland owners to donate or bequeath agricultural conservation easements and for the state to receive and hold those easements if owners choose.

The bill would authorize the Indiana State Department of Agriculture (ISDA) to accept donations or purchases of agricultural conservation easements, allow counties to create their own farmland protection programs, and permit private land trusts to hold easements. The legislation does not include a state appropriation to purchase easements, and supporters said the statutory framework is intended to help landowners access federal and philanthropic matching funds.

Supporters told the committee the measure is a response to an inventory of lost farmland released in July 2023 that found Indiana lost roughly 345,000 acres between 2010 and 2022, or about 29,000 acres per year. Chris Reynolds, Midwest regional director for American Farmland Trust, said the loss places Indiana’s agricultural base at risk and that the bill…