NRCS PROVIDES NEARLY $1 MILLION FOR FARMLAND PROTECTION

Richmond, VA, August 6, 2008 – State Conservationist John A. Bricker today announced that the Natural Resources Conservation Service is providing over $900,000 in federal funds to purchase conservation easements on more than 1500 acres of agricultural land in Essex, Rockingham and Rockbridge Counties.

"Keeping the nation's farm and ranch lands producing food and fiber is a high priority for USDA," says Bricker. "Protecting this land from development through conservation easements is critical to the farming industry of Virginia and to the health of the Chesapeake Bay.” The funds are being made available through USDA’s Farm and Ranchland Protection Program (FRPP).

The easement on the Port Tobacco farm in Essex County is the largest FRPP easement closed in the state thus far, says FRPP Program Manager Barry Harris. NRCS partnered with The Nature Conservancy to provide funds for an easement on 1284 acres. The farm which is located along the Rappahannock River has been owned by the same family since the 1600’s and is used primarily for grain production. In addition to the easement, the landowners are installing buffers and other practices that will decrease nutrients and sediment runoff to the Bay.

NRCS is also partnering with the Virginia Outdoors Foundation (VOF) on two other easements along the Interstate 81 corridor. In Rockbridge County, 220 acres will be protected on Walter Martin’s Mountain View farm. The farm which has been owned by the family for more than a century, is being threatened by residential development. Martin believes in taking care of the land. He has installed several conservation practices as part of the Hays Creek watershed program including an animal waste facility, pipelines, cross fencing and cover crops. Currently, the farm is leased to a young dairyman who sells farm made cheese and grass fed beef to local consumers.

In the Shenandoah Valley community of Mount Crawford, just off busy Interstate 81, and within sight of the new sewage treatment plant, Dorothy Lee Rosen is acting to preserve an agricultural legacy. NRCS and VOF are providing funds for an easement on 122 acres of prime farmland. Rosen, a third generation farmer, runs about 60 head of crossbred cattle and club calves on pastureland. A long-time conservationist, she uses rotational grazing and has excluded livestock from all streams on the farm. Rosen feels a responsibility to preserve the farm so that future generations may enjoy its beauty.

FRPP protects productive agricultural land by purchasing conservation easements to limit conversion of farm and ranch lands to non-agricultural uses. Using existing programs, USDA partners with State, tribal, or local governments and non-government organizations to acquire conservation easements or other interests in land from landowners. USDA provides up to 50 percent of the appraised fair market value of the conservation easement in this voluntary program. State and local entities can match that amount, including the use of landowner donations.

In 2007, NRCS provided approximately $1.3 million to protect 732 acres of cropland. Nationwide, NRCS has invested $536 million to protect about 533,000 acres on 2,764 farms and ranches (1996-2007).

For more information about FRPP contact your local NRCS office or check the NRCS website at http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/frpp.

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