5. Conservation Easements

Conservation easements are legal agreements between a landowner and a third party—usually a land trust or a government agency—that are designed to permanently restrict the use of the land.

Conservation easements that protect wetlands and other environmentally sensitive land from being converted to farmland offer substantial climate benefits. The Environmental Working Group, for instance, estimates that the conversion of wetlands to farmland between 2008 and 2012 resulted in greenhouse gas emissions totaling 25-74 MMT CO₂ eq. annually²⁴³—the

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equivalent of adding five to 15 million cars to the road each year.²⁴⁴ Others have studied the conversion of native grasslands to farmland, in large part to supply corn to ethanol plants, and similarly found significant soil carbon losses.²⁴⁵ Expansion of programs to prevent such conversion can have substantial benefits and should be undertaken.

USDA has supported conservation easements on property owned by farm operators since 1990, preserving more than four million acres of farmland and environmentally sensitive lands in the process.²⁴⁶ The 2014 Farm Bill consolidated USDA’s three existing easement programs into the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP).²⁴⁷ Administered by NRCS, the program is designed to protect wetlands, grasslands, and productive farmland and has been fairly successful; it should be expanded.²⁴⁸

For permanent wetland easements, NRCS pays farm owners the lower of the fair market value of the land or an offer made by the farm owner.²⁴⁹ NRCS can also set geographical caps limiting payments within specific regions.²⁵⁰ Alternatively, farm owners can apply for “long-term” wetland easements, which typically run for 30 years, and provide 50%-75% of the compensation due to an equivalent permanent easement.²⁵¹ For agricultural land easements, which protect working agricultural land, NRCS generally pays farm owners up to 50% of the fair market value of the easement, although NRCS may contribute up to 75% of the fair market value of an easement protecting grasslands of “special environmental significance.”²⁵²

ACEP receives substantially less funding than its predecessor programs. While the 2008 Farm Bill provided $691 million for easement programs each year from 2009-2013, the 2018 Farm Bill allocated $450 million annually to ACEP—almost $250 million less than its precursors enjoyed.²⁵³ ACEP also receives significantly less funding than CRP, which the Congressional Budget Office projects will cost more than $2 billion annually on average

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during the years addressed by the 2018 Farm Bill.²⁵⁴ Unlike most ACEP easements, CRP protects environmentally sensitive land for a limited period, and therefore does not offer lasting climate benefits.

Congress should substantially expand ACEP and ensure that protecting environmentally sensitive lands that provide the greatest climate benefits is among the program’s priorities. Wetlands, for example, are estimated to emit between 405 and 1,215 metric tons CO₂ eq. per acre when converted to agricultural land.²⁵⁵ Similarly, it should eliminate ACEP’s long-term (but not permanent) easement option since its long-term climate benefits are dubious. The program should also be expanded to allow for easements on additional types of environmentally sensitive land, allowing USDA to protect terrestrial carbon pools in a wider variety of ecosystems.²⁵⁶

Finally, given the amount of forestland on farms, Congress should increase funding for the Healthy Forests Reserve Program, an NRCS program that helps landowners restore and protect forests through easements and financial assistance such as 10-year restoration agreements or 30-year or permanent easements for specific conservation actions.²⁵⁷ As with other programs, this should be administered so as to prioritize climate benefits.