House committee advances bill to create voluntary agricultural conservation easement program

The Indiana House Agriculture Committee voted to pass House Bill 1234 as amended, a measure that would create a voluntary program allowing farmland owners to donate or sell agricultural conservation easements to preserve farmland for continued agricultural use.

Representative Adam Culp, the bill’s sponsor, told the committee the proposal “creates a framework for willing farmland owners to donate their conservation easements, if they choose to protect their farms for future generations to utilize to grow food.”

The bill would authorize the Indiana State Department of Agriculture (ISDA) to accept and hold conservation easements and would create an Ag Conservation Easement Fund to help leverage federal, local and philanthropic dollars. Chris Reynolds, Midwest regional director for American Farmland Trust, urged support and said the bill “lays the vital groundwork to give farmers and landowners the option to protect their land for future generations.” He said the…