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House committee advances bill to let owners donate agricultural conservation easements
Summary
A House Agriculture Committee hearing moved House Bill 1234 forward after proponents said the bill would create a voluntary statewide framework for farmland owners to donate or bequeath conservation easements and qualify for federal matching funds; the bill does not appropriate state money.
Representative Culp introduced House Bill 1234 to the House Agriculture Committee to create a framework allowing willing farmland owners to donate or bequeath agricultural conservation easements to protect farms for future agricultural use.
The bill would authorize the Indiana State Department of Agriculture (ISDA) to accept and hold donated easements and would allow counties to establish their own local programs. "This bill 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," Representative Culp said in his introduction. The bill, as introduced, requests no state appropriation to purchase easements.
The nut graf: supporters told the committee HB1234 would make Indiana eligible to leverage federal and private funding to preserve farmland amid documented statewide loss. "House Bill 1234 lays the vital…
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