Committee approves bill creating framework for donated farmland conservation easements

The Indiana House Agriculture Committee voted to pass House Bill 1234 as amended after testimony from farmers, conservation groups and state agriculture officials.

House Bill 1234 would create an agricultural land protection program to accept donated or bequeathed conservation easements on farmland, allow the Indiana State Department of Agriculture (ISDA) to hold easements, and authorize counties to establish their own farmland protection programs. The bill does not include a state appropriation to purchase easements; authors and witnesses said the measure is intended to make willing landowners eligible to seek federal and private matching funds.

Representative Culp, the bill’s sponsor, said the measure responds to an inventory of lost farmland and would “give farmers and landowners the option to protect their land for future generations.” He described the bill as a voluntary framework rather than a state purchase program and noted that other states use matching funds to leverage federal dollars.

Chris Reynolds, Midwest regional director for American Farmland Trust, told the committee the bill would bring Indiana into alignment with other states that use…