House committee advances bill to create Tennessee Farmland Preservation Fund after hours of testimony

House Bill 1325, the Tennessee Farmland Preservation Fund, was advanced out of the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee after extended testimony from farmers, foresters and a representative of the governor's office.

The bill would create a grant-based program to help landowners place voluntary conservation easements on agricultural and forested property, and authorize the Tennessee Department of Agriculture to administer a Farmland Preservation Trust to fund those easements.

Supporters said the measure would help Tennessee families keep working farms and forestland in production. "This bill will lessen that burden for folks that need it the most," said Anna Kern, identifying herself as "an eighth generation farm inheritor and a conservation advocate," describing her family's 1,000-acre operation and…