Farmland Owners’ Satisfaction with Agricultural Conservation Easements

Abstract

Despite substantial investments in purchase of agricultural conservation easement (PACE) programs to preserve farmland, little attention has been placed on evaluating landowner perspectives of PACE post-preservation. Understanding landowner experiences and satisfaction with operation of farms subject to PACE deeds of easement can inform future farmland preservation policy and procedures. The objective of this study is to empirically examine the extent and basis of landowner satisfaction with PACE program participation through statistical modeling of data from a phone survey of 507 preserved farmland owners in three Northeastern states (Delaware, Maryland, and New Jersey). Ordinal logistic regression models are developed to explain factors affecting landowners’ satisfaction of PACE participation. Results show generally high levels of owner satisfaction with PACE programs in the region. “Second-generation” landowners (i.e., those who purchase or inherit preserved farms) and owners who have had a business activity restricted by easement terms are less likely to be satisfied with the program. Implications for policy formation and program administration are discussed.

Keywords:

• Agricultural conservation easements
• farm retention
• farmland preservation
• landowner satisfaction

Notes

Notes

1 A conservation easement is a partial, non-possessory interest in land created through a voluntary, legally binding agreement between a landowner (“grantor”) and a grantee (e.g., private land trust or government agency). Although these easements are “negative” in that they prevent developed land uses, they are rationalized by a desire to ensure agricultural land uses persist and thereby preserve natural, scenic or other land-based amenities.

2 The authors compiled lists of easements held by each of the five programs as of early 2011. MET and MRLP program goals include the protection of resource lands important for reasons other than agriculture (e.g., scenic, environmental, or historic values). The study team therefore worked with MET and MRLP program staff to include in the list frame only protected properties with at least 10 acres in agricultural use (i.e., raising crops, livestock, nursery products, timber, or other agricultural goods) at the time of easement acquisition.

3 In recent years, New Jersey’s farmland preservation program staff have encouraged applicants to consider “excluding” part of their farms to retain future use flexibilities. The New Jersey program recognizes two types of exclusions (“exceptions” in that program's policy language): (1) a “severable exception” which can be subdivided from the farm in the future, if local zoning allows, and (2) a “non-severable exception” which cannot be subdivided nor conveyed separately from the remainder of the preserved farm. In both cases, a landowner does not receive an easement payment for the excepted area(s), and the excepted area is free from deed restrictions.

4 The survey was implemented during a period of interest in on-farm solar energy production that was heightened by tax incentives and a strengthening market for Solar Renewable Energy Certificates (SRECs).

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by a grant from the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative [Competitive Grant No. 2010-85211-20515] from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station [USDA-NIFA, Hatch project number NJ02110].