Accepting Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program Applications

Morgantown, WV—USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has received $1,645,503 in financial assistance funds for the 2005 Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program (FRPP) in West Virginia. FRPP is a voluntary program offering opportunities to keep agricultural lands threatened by development in production. The program pays up to 50 percent of the easement cost and the landowner maintains control of the land.

“Protecting farmland from permanent conversion to non-agricultural land uses in West Virginia is at a critical stage. The state has limited prime farmland acreage and the loss of each acre has a more profound impact upon the rural economy, rural lifestyle, and farm families than in any other state” said Patrick Bowen, Assistant State Conservationist, Field Operations. NRCS is now accepting proposals. Ten counties in the state have formed farmland protection boards under the state voluntary farmland protection law to provide access to the program.

In 2004, $1,574,000 in federal FRPP funds were provided to protect 1489 acres of farmland with an easement value of $3.981 million. The Canaan Valley Institute, WV Land Trust, WV Department of Agriculture, Conservation Districts, Nature Conservancy, WV Coalition of Land Trusts, and the Civil War Preservation Trust worked together to support farmland protection efforts in the state.

The deadline for submitting proposals to the NRCS is April 5, 2005. Details on how to submit proposals are available on the web on the Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program web page at http://www.nrchs.usda.gov/programs/frpp/ For more information on FRPP, please contact Patrick Bowen at (304) 457-1118 or Patrick.Bowen@wv.usda.gov.

For more information, please contact your local USDA Service Center, listed in the telephone book under U.S. Department of Agriculture, or your local conservation district. Information also is available on the World Wide Web at: http://www.wv.nrcs.usda.gov/

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