Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program

Last Modified: 04/23/2008

The Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program (FRPP), formerly the Farmland Protection Program, is a voluntary conservation program that helps farmers and ranchers keep their land in agriculture. This program provides funds to help purchase development rights to keep productive farmland in agricultural uses. Working through existing programs, the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) joins state, tribal, or local governments and non-governmental organizations to acquire conservation easements. The NRCS provides up to 50 percent of the fair market easement value.

Eligibility

To qualify, the farm or ranchland must:

• Contain at least 50 percent of prime, unique, statewide or locally important soils or contain historical or archaeological sites.
• Be a part of a pending offer from a state, tribal, or local government or a non-governmental organization agricultural land protection program.
• Be privately owned.
• Have a conservation plan on highly erodible land.
• Be large enough to sustain agriculture production.
• Include eligible lands such as cropland, rangeland, grassland, pasture land, and forest land that are part of an agricultural operation.
• Involve landowners who do not exceed the Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) provision of the 2002 Farm Bill.

Announcement of Program Funding

The following documents require Adobe Acrobat.

The 2007 FRPP Announcement of Program Funding (APF) (PDF; 135 KB)

Contact

Claude Ross, Soil Conservationist
Phone: 254-742-9822

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