USDA Provides Funding to Protect Farm Lands in West Virginia

MORGANTOWN, WV, April, 11, 2006 — USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) State Conservationist, Ronald L. Hilliard, announced the availability of $1,933,575 to protect agricultural land in West Virginia through the Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program (FRPP) in fiscal year 2006.

"Preserving the nation's prime agricultural soils on farm and ranch lands helps to ensure a vibrant future for American agriculture," said Hilliard. "Once protected by conservation easements, this land will be shielded from development pressure and continue to support our safe and abundant food supply."

NRCS is seeking proposals from state and local governments and non-governmental organizations interested in working together to acquire conservation easements on farms and ranches. 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, 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.

The eligible farm or ranch must have the following components:

• contain productive soils or historic or archaeological sites;
• be part of a pending offer from a non-governmental organization, state, tribe or local farmland protection program;
• be privately owned;
• covered by a conservation plan;
• large enough to sustain agricultural production;
• accessible to markets for what the land produces; and
• surrounded by parcels of land that can support long-term agricultural production.

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. For this reason the legislature passed the states’ Voluntary Farmland Protection Act in 2000 to complement the Federal Farm and Ranchland Protection Program. Counties and the State can cooperate with local land trusts and landowners to purchase voluntarily offered agricultural conservation easements that permanently reserve these lands for farming. Since 2002, West Virginia landowners submitted over 60 proposals for over $20 million worth of easements.

The deadline for submitting proposals to the NRCS is May 11, 2006. Proposals should be submitted to:

Ronald L. Hilliard, State Conservationist
NRCS
75 High Street, Room 301
Morgantown, WV 26505

The Announcement of Program Funding can be found at http://www.grants.gov and http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/frpp. For more information on FRPP, please contact Patrick Bowen at (304) 457-1118, extension 105, or Patrick.Bowen@wv.usda.gov.

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