Take Action - 2023 Farm Bill

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Contact Your Elected Representatives TODAY and tell them
to Support Farmland Protection in the next Farm Bill!

Agricultural land is a finite resource that is foundational to our nation’s food security and economy, and we are running out of time to protect it. Over 11 million acres were lost or threatened by development in the first 15 years of the 21st century alone. If nothing is done, the U.S. is projected to lose an additional 18.4 million acres by 2040 according to research conducted by American Farmland Trust.

Congress is writing the next Farm Bill right now and this is our best opportunity to strengthen federal farmland protection efforts.

The federal government has a key role to play in ensuring that this future loss of land does not become a reality. The Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP) is the only federal program focused on permanently protecting agricultural lands. However, there are significant barriers that are hindering the ability of this program to assist landowners who seek to protect their land for future generations.

A partnership of national organizations, land trusts, and state protection of agricultural conservation easement programs have put together a series of recommendations for ACEP. Please click the link below TODAY to send a message to your members of Congress asking them to improve ACEP and prioritize farmland protection in the next Farm Bill.

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Contact Your Elected Representatives TODAY and tell them to Support Farmland Protection in the next Farm Bill!

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Subject: Please Support Farmland Protection in the Next Farm Bill

Message:

Thank you for all that you do for our nation’s farmers, ranchers, and rural communities. I am writing today as a constituent to share my support for proposed reforms to the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP) as part of the next Farm Bill.

This is a critical time for agricultural land protection. Over 11 million acres were lost or threatened by development in the first 15 years of the 21st century alone. If nothing is done, the U.S. is projected to lose an additional 18.4 million acres by 2040 according to research conducted by American Farmland Trust. Agricultural land is a finite resource that is foundational to our nation’s food security and economy.

The federal government has a key role to play in ensuring that this future loss of land does not become a reality. ACEP is the only program focused on permanently protecting agricultural lands. However, there are significant barriers that are hindering the ability of this program to assist landowners who seek to protect their land for future generations.

The next Farm Bill is an opportunity to strengthen ACEP. A partnership of national organizations, land trusts, and state protection of agricultural conservation easement programs have put together a series of reform recommendations for this program which include:
• Significantly increase program funding for ACEP
• Provide both greater federal cost-share for easements as well as a lower cost-share option for easements held solely by the partner entity
• Cover additional transaction costs
• Improve and enhance the certification process
• Enable the program to support land access through changes to its Buy-Protect-Sell provisions
• Reduce delays in easement modifications and provide clarity around easement administration actions
• Expand ACEP’s certification program to RCPP and allow use of ACEP-approved easement templates through RCPP

Additional details on these recommendations can be found at farmland.org/2023-farm-bill.

I encourage you to support these changes which will help to protect more of our best agricultural lands. Thank you for your time and consideration of this important issue!

Contact Organization Name
Org Address Line 1 Org Address Line 2 | Org City, Org State Org Zip
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Contact Your Elected Representatives TODAY and tell them to Support Farmland Protection in the next Farm Bill!

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