Agricultural Land Easements help private and tribal landowners, land trusts, and other entities such as state and local governments protect croplands and grasslands on working farms and ranches by limiting non-agricultural uses of the land through conservation easements.
Overview
NRCS provides financial assistance to eligible partners for purchasing perpetual Agricultural Land Easements (ALE) that protect the agricultural use and conservation values of eligible land. In the case of working farms, the program helps farmers and ranchers keep their land in agriculture. The program also protects grazing uses and related conservation values by conserving grassland, including rangeland, pastureland and shrubland. Eligible partners include American Indian tribes, state and local governments and non-governmental organizations that have farmland, rangeland or grassland protection programs.
Under the ALE component, NRCS may contribute up to 50 percent of the fair market value of the agricultural land easement. Where NRCS determines that grasslands of special environmental significance will be protected, NRCS may contribute up to 75 percent of the fair market value of the ALE.
Eligibility
California NRCS strongly advises applicant entities (e.g., Land Trusts) to route potential landowner(s) to Farm Service Agency (FSA) prior to or immediately after the application is submitted
Land eligible for ALE includes cropland, rangeland, grassland, pastureland and nonindustrial private forest land. NRCS will prioritize applications that protect agricultural uses and related conservation values of the land and those that maximize the protection of contiguous acres devoted to agricultural use. To enroll land in ACEP-ALE, NRCS enters into Program Agreements and Parcel Contracts with eligible partners.
All landowners of land, listed on the deed, being offered for ALE, and entity members down to the individuals, must meet the Adjusted Gross Income, Highly Erodible Land, and Wetland Conservation Compliance requirements and establish required farm records with the FSA by the application deadline. A copy of the current deed showing ownership must also be provided to FSA. Landowners that are corporations, trusts or other entities should consult with FSA on the forms that are required for the entity and members of the entity.
Landowners | How to Apply
To enroll land through the ALE Program, landowners must find an eligible partner to submit proposals to NRCS to be considered for a conservation easement on eligible land. Entities interested in using conservation easements to address natural resource concerns can submit applications at any time; although signup is continuous, funding selections are made at specific times during the fiscal year. Click here to find a land trust near you!
Entities | How to Apply
Entity applications are accepted on a continuous basis. However, if also seeking ACEP-ALE funding in FY 2025, all applications must be received by 5:00 PM PST on the FY 2025 application batching date. To offer land for enrollment in an ALE, eligible entities must submit the respective application documents to the NRCS California State Office by the deadline specified at the top of the page. Application submission instructions are detailed in the application questionnaire. Application materials are available for download from the Documents, Forms, & Resources section.
Additional Information
Documents, Forms, & Resources
If you’re interested in applying for ACEP-ALE entity eligibility and/or conservation easements (parcels), you'll find the necessary forms and documents here.
News & Events
Information on our upcoming events, our newsletter archives, and ACEP-ALE success stories can be found here.
ACEP-ALE Staff Contacts
Dean Kwasny
Easement Program Manager
Phone: (530) 792-5648
Email: dean.kwasny@usda.gov
Elizabeth Palmer
Easement Program Specialist
Phone: (530) 792-5672
Email: elizabeth.palmer@usda.gov
Kaytee Todoroff
Easement Program Specialist
Phone (530) 515-7351
Email: kaytee.todoroff@usda.gov
Elizabeth Friedl
Easement Program Specialist
Phone: (530) 792-5566
Email: elizabeth.friedl@usda.gov
Reymon Hernandez
Realty Specialist
Phone: (530) 723-0127
Email: reymon.hernandez@usda.gov
Ready to get started?
Contact your local service center to start your application.
How to Get Assistance
Do you farm or ranch and want to make improvements to the land that you own or lease?
Natural Resources Conservation Service offers technical and financial assistance to help farmers, ranchers and forest landowners.
To get started with NRCS, we recommend you stop by your local NRCS field office. We’ll discuss your vision for your land.
NRCS provides landowners with free technical assistance, or advice, for their land. Common technical assistance includes: resource assessment, practice design and resource monitoring. Your conservation planner will help you determine if financial assistance is right for you.
We’ll walk you through the application process. To get started on applying for financial assistance, we’ll work with you:
- To fill out an AD 1026, which ensures a conservation plan is in place before lands with highly erodible soils are farmed. It also ensures that identified wetland areas are protected.
- To meet other eligibility certifications.
Once complete, we’ll work with you on the application, or CPA 1200.
Applications for most programs are accepted on a continuous basis, but they’re considered for funding in different ranking periods. Be sure to ask your local NRCS district conservationist about the deadline for the ranking period to ensure you turn in your application in time.
As part of the application process, we’ll check to see if you are eligible. To do this, you’ll need to bring:
- An official tax ID (Social Security number or an employer ID)
- A property deed or lease agreement to show you have control of the property; and
- A farm number.
If you don’t have a farm number, you can get one from USDA’s Farm Service Agency. Typically, the local FSA office is located in the same building as the local NRCS office. You only need a farm number if you’re interested in financial assistance.
NRCS will take a look at the applications and rank them according to local resource concerns, the amount of conservation benefits the work will provide and the needs of applicants. View Application Ranking Dates by State.
If you’re selected, you can choose whether to sign the contract for the work to be done.
Once you sign the contract, you’ll be provided standards and specifications for completing the practice or practices, and then you will have a specified amount of time to implement. Once the work is implemented and inspected, you’ll be paid the rate of compensation for the work if it meets NRCS standards and specifications.