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.
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Benefits
The Agricultural Land Easements component of the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program protects the long-term viability of the nation’s food supply by preventing conversion of productive working lands to non-agricultural uses. Land protected by agricultural land easements provides additional public benefits, including environmental quality, historic preservation, wildlife habitat and protection of open space. Additionally, Agricultural Land Easements leverage local partnerships to match NRCS funding and local partners are responsible for the long-term stewardship of the easement.
Who is Elgible?
- Eligible partners include American Indian tribes, state and local governments and non-governmental organizations that have farmland, rangeland or grassland protection programs.
- Eligible landowners include owners of privately held land including land that is held by tribes and tribal members.
- All landowners, including required members of landowner-legal entities, must meet adjusted gross income (AGI) limitations and must be compliant with the HEL/WC provisions of the Food Security Act of 1985.
How Does it Work?
NRCS provides financial assistance to eligible partners for purchasing Agricultural Land Easements that protect the agricultural use and conservation values of eligible land.
For working farms, the program helps farmers and ranchers keep their land in agriculture. Under the Agricultural Land Easement component, NRCS may contribute up to 50 percent of the fair market value of the agricultural land easement.
The program also protects grazing uses and related conservation values by conserving grassland, including rangeland, pastureland and shrubland. 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 agricultural land easement.
Agricultural Land Easements are permanent or for the maximum term allowed by law.
How do I find an eligible partner to hold my Agricultural Land Easement?
Visit the following websites to learn how to find an eligible partner to hold conservation easements.
How do I get started?
Landowners - To learn more about ALE, contact your local NRCS office. An NRCS conservationist will visit you and evaluate your land to help you determine eligibility for the various components of ACEP. If your land is eligible for ALE and you are looking for an eligible entity to hold your conservation easement; please visit ACEP-ALE for Landowners - FIC.
Eligible Entities- To learn more about ALE, contact Erik Bray, Easement Program Specialist, at erik.bray@usda.gov or 775-857-8500 to inquire about how you can partner with NRCS to enroll conservation easements on eligible land.
General Information
NRCS provides financial assistance to eligible Cooperating Entities (partners) for purchasing an Agricultural Land Easement (ALE) that protects the agricultural use of working farms and ranches, and the conservation values of those lands. The ALE program also protects agricultural grazing uses and related conservation values by conserving grasslands, including rangeland, pastureland and shrubland. Eligible partners include Indian tribes, state and local governments and non-governmental organizations that have farmland or grassland protection programs and work with eligible landowners to protect agricultural lands.
Under the ALE component, NRCS may contribute up to 50 percent of the fair market value of the ALE. Where NRCS determines that Grasslands of Special Environmental Significance (GSS) will be protected, NRCS may contribute up to 75 percent of the fair market value of the ALE. For FY 2024, the partner applicant will need to describe how the grassland offered for enrollment fits the definition of the ALE-GSS. Easement values for ALE are based on a fair market appraisal.
For FY 2024, entity funding agreements will only be executed through a Program Agreement (PA), which a Parcel Contract (PC) may be funded under.
ACEP-ALE Applications must be received by January 5, 2024. Please use the application forms and supplemental information below for submission.
How to Apply- Entity Partners
To offer land for enrollment in an ALE, eligible partners must submit all of the respective application documents listed above for the ALE Entity, Landowner, and Parcel to the Nevada State Office. Packets can be submitted by: email; USPS, FedEx, or UPS; or can be dropped off at your local NRCS office. If a packet is emailed, hard copies of all the documents will be required to be provided for records purposes. All ALE application packet documents must be complete, fully executed and received by 5:00 P.M. PST on January 5, 2023 to be considered for FY 2024 funding.
Submit application packets to NRCS by:
USPS, UPS, or FedEx: USDA NRCS Nevada State Office, Attn: Easement Programs, 300 Booth Street, Room 2070, Reno, NV 89509
Email:
- Subject: FY24_ACEP_WRE-Landowner Name or ALE Entity name
- To: erik.bray@usda.gov, cc:trina.johnson@usda.gov
- EMAIL Attachments Naming Convention: WRE-Landowner or ALE-Entity Name_FY24_DOC or Form number/Name_1 of X.
- Submit an electronic application packet for ACEP-ALE as separate documents, single sided, PDF’s.
- Do not combine documents into one PDF or submit links to digital file boxes for downloading documents.
- Hard copies of emailed documents will be required for record keeping purposes.
Drop off in person at your local USDA Service Center.
Eligibility
Entity and Landowner must meet FSA eligibility by February 2, 2024.
NRCS will use the questionnaires, the checklists and the rest of the parcel and entity application materials submitted to determine application eligibility.
For ACEP buy-protect-sell enrollments, different payment eligibility requirements may apply; contact NRCS for more information. Agricultural lands eligible for ALE include cropland, rangeland, grassland, pastureland, and nonindustrial private forest land. Land must meet land eligibility type and use.
There are many other land eligibility factors that will be considered during the application review and site visits to the property, including hazardous materials and title issues. NRCS will prioritize applications that protect agricultural, or grazing uses and related conservation values of the land, and those that maximize the protection of contiguous acres devoted to agricultural use.
To enroll land into an ALE, NRCS enters into Program Agreements and Parcel Contracts with eligible partners. Co-applicants, co-holders, and third-party right holders must be identified in the submitted application. The partner and landowner may choose to develop an agricultural land easement plan to further promote the long-term viability of the land. If highly erodible land (HEL) is present on the proposed property for enrollment, as determined by FSA and NRCS, an HEL Conservation Plan will be required and is written by NRCS.
Ranking
The State Conservationist, in consultation with the State Technical Advisory Committee has developed ranking criteria to prioritize and subsequently fund applications addressing priority natural resource concerns in Nevada. Ranking assessments include site vulnerability, existing conditions, and potential resource concerns identified on the land at the time of application. More explanation about ranking for FY2024 can be found in the Ranking Document in the Additional Documents Section.
Application Forms and Supplemental Information
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.