How are conservation land easements helping preserve Idaho farmland?

A look at federal programs, state efforts and one farm’s experience

Ken Michael, co-owner of Teton Full Circle Farm, carries an abundant carrot harvest. | Photo courtesy of Teton Full Circle Farm

Story by Sharon Fisher

Rising land prices have put the cost of farming outside the reach of many young farmers, but a program taking root in Idaho is helping.

Idaho farms—including Peaceful Belly Farm in Canyon County and Full Circle Farm and Nedrow Farm in Teton County—are using conservation land easements that can reduce the cost of permanently preserving farmland by up to half.

What is a conservation land easement?

Conservation land easements work by the farmer partnering with a regional land trust—a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving open space—to protect the land’s development rights. Technically called a Purchase of Development Rights (PDR), it restricts development on the land in perpetuity. 

One of the most common ways to fund the PDR is through a federal program from the Natural Resources Conservation Service, part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The NRCS funds part of the cost of purchasing development rights through its Agricultural Conservation Easement Program, and the farmers provide the rest, either by using their own funds, philanthropy or crowdfunding. 

When the process is over, the farmer still owns the land and can sell it for agricultural purposes. But the land trust holds the development rights on the land, ensuring the farmland remains farmland in perpetuity. 

Conservation land easements are important because so much of Idaho’s prime agricultural land is being developed for non-agricultural purposes, said David Anderson, Idaho program manager of American Farmland Trust, a nationwide organization intended to help preserve farms and ranches. 

“We’re paving over the best of the best,” Anderson said. “Idaho is behind the eight ball as far as having state policies to promote agricultural protection.”

Not only do Idaho—and the Treasure Valley in particular—have among the highest rates of agricultural land conversion in the country, but 80% of the land converted in the past 15 years is on prime agricultural soil. 

“We’re paving over the best of the best,” Anderson said. “Idaho is behind the eight ball as far as having state policies to promote agricultural protection.”

Idaho typically receives between $2 million and $7 million from the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program annually, said Eric Grace, executive director of the Boise-based Land Trust of the Treasure Valley Inc., which is working with Peaceful Belly on its process. 

“There’s a vital role we play here,” he said. “Landowners cannot submit an application on their own.”

The land trust is also responsible for ensuring development doesn’t occur on the property. 

“If (landowners) violate the conservation easement, it’s incumbent on us to remedy the situation,” typically through a lawsuit, Grace said. 

Ken Michael and Erika Eschholz at Teton Full Circle Farm in Victor. | Photo courtesy of Teton Full Circle Farm

A conservation easement in action in Idaho

Ken Michael and Erika Eschholz used a Purchase of Development Rights to preserve the farmland for their Teton Full Circle Farm in Victor. They learned about land conservation easements while looking for farmland in Maine, and returned to Idaho to leverage their local connections.

They purchased 20 acres for Teton Full Circle in 2016, primarily through a USDA Farm Service Agency loan, which they could get because they’d had three previous years of successful farming.

Before a farmer can sell a conservation easement to a land trust, the farmer must first own the land itself, Eschholz explained.

 “So, one way or another, a farmer has to have enough capital/equity to purchase the land,” she said.

The next part of the conservation easement process was appraising the property, which took several months. That gave them a valuation of $240,000, meaning they had to raise $130,000 to buy the development rights, setting aside two acres on which they could build homes and two acres for other agricultural buildings.

Michael and Eschholz decided not to pursue federal funding for the project because of how long the ACEP program takes. Instead, they raised the money on their own.

Fortunately, after they’d raised $16,000—primarily through many small donations—a land trust supporter donated $100,000 to their project. 

“That pretty much made the fundraiser for us,” Michael said.

Once they’d raised the money, they worked with the Teton Regional Land Trust, which purchased the development rights on the farmland. The proceeds from the purchase went directly to paying down the Farm Service Agency loan on Teton Full Circle’s land.

In the end, Michael and Eschholz own the land, the Teton Regional Land Trust owns the development rights and Teton Full Circle Farm keeps farming. They raise vegetables, flowers, herbs, and fruit, as well as dairy and chickens. Their income is steadily increasing due to more people interested in buying local food, they said.

No matter what happens to Teton Full Circle itself in the future, the land will stay in agricultural use, thanks to the conservation easement.

Ken Michael works in the field. | Photo courtesy of Teton Full Circle Farm

The future of the ACEP program

Peaceful Belly Farms, now in the Sunnyslope region of Canyon County, has had a successful application and is now in the process of getting the appraisal and drafting the actual easement, Grace said. The process could take 18 months.

While the federal ACEP program has been available for several years, Idaho farmers are just starting to take advantage of it, Grace said. 

“The biggest reason is that the program will only fund 50% of the value of the conservation easement,” with a rigorous appraisal process, he said. 

But a few years ago, NRCS waived the cash match requirement, meaning the landowner can agree to accept only 50% of the land’s appraised value—which requires a philanthropic landowner. Landowners are also eligible for tax benefits for up to 20 years, Anderson added.

As Idahoans take increasing advantage of the program, supporters hope the state will get a larger share of NRCS funding. At current levels, “one or two easement projects can burn it up really fast,” Anderson said. 

Other potential changes to the program include the possibility of “term easements,” or easements in five- or 10-year periods instead of in perpetuity, Anderson said. 

It’s also possible the state of Idaho or local governments could devote funding to land conservation, Anderson said, noting that Oregon recently appropriated $5 million toward its Oregon Agricultural Heritage Program, and that in Skagit County, Washington, a 25-year-old program is so successful it’s running out of farms to protect. 

But the long-term goal is creating a stable of philanthropists dedicated to preserving farmland, Grace said. 

“In the Treasure Valley, we’re talking about a lot of money,” he said.