House committee approves framework allowing voluntary farmland conservation easements

House Agriculture Committee members voted to pass House Bill 1234 on a committee voice/roll-call vote after witnesses from conservation and farming organizations urged lawmakers to adopt a voluntary program to protect Hoosier farmland.

The bill, presented by Representative Culp, would create an agricultural land protection program that accepts donations or bequests of agricultural conservation easements, allows the Indiana State Department of Agriculture (ISDA) to hold easements, and authorizes counties and private land trusts to establish local programs. The proposal does not include a state appropriation to purchase easements.

The committee heard multiple supporters who said the measure offers a tool for landowners who want to keep land in agricultural production while retaining ownership and equity. Chris Reynolds, Midwest Regional Director for American Farmland Trust, told the committee that the state’s lost-farmland inventory showed about 345,000 acres of farmland were converted from 2010 to 2022, and that similar programs in other states have leveraged federal and private dollars to preserve farmland. "House Bill 1234 lays the vital groundwork to give…