Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program

The Farm and  Ranch Lands Protection Program (FRPP) provides funds to purchase the development rights to farmland, preserving productive farmland for agricultural use. Working through existing programs, USDA joins with state, tribal or local governments to acquire conservation easements from landowners. USDA provides up to 50 percent of the fair market easement value.

To qualify, farmland must be part of a pending offer from a state, tribe or local farmland protection program; be privately owned; have a conservation plan; be large enough to sustain agricultural production; be accessible to markets for what the land produces; have adequate infrastructure and agricultural support services and have surrounding parcels of land that can support long-term agricultural production. Depending on availability of funds, proposals must be submitted by a government entity to the NRCS State Office during the sign-up period.

These documents require Acrobat Reader.

Fact Sheet (46.83 KB)
Key Points (47.71 KB)
Questions and Answers (42.68 KB )
Program Description (56.94 KB)
Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program in Massachusetts brochure (268 KB)

Additional FRPP information and fact sheets on national NRCS website

Contact

Barbara Miller
State Resource Conservationist - Massachusetts
413-253-4380
barbara.miller@ma.usda.gov

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