Farmland Conservation Easements 101

Thursday, October 21
6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. Central Standard Time

Online Webinar

Finding access to farmland only gets harder as the supply of farmland declines – Illinois has lost 3.6 million acres of farmland since 1950. There is a legal tool that keeps farmland available for farming and also benefits both farmland owners and farmers – the farmland conservation easement. This tool can help farmland owners preserve farmland that is a family legacy, reinvest in the farm operation, and work out the best possible succession arrangement. In many cases, especially near urban areas, easements can make farmland more affordable for farmers to buy as well.

In this webinar, Emy Brawley and Aimee Collins of The Conservation Fund will introduce you to the basic concepts of farmland conservation easements and how they work. They will then take you into a deeper dive into the many practical details of implementing one if you are a farmland owner. What, for example, can you and can you not restrict in the language of the easement? What exactly are the potential financial benefits? Emy and Aimee will also explain what farmers need to know about farming on land that has an easement.

Linda Balek from The Land Conservancy of McHenry County (TLC) – an organization that holds conservation easements – will talk about TLC’s relationship with farmland owners and farm tenants on farmland TLC has conserved with easements.

Finally, you’ll hear about how The Conservation Fund and its partners are expanding the use of farmland conservation easements in Illinois as a way to make land more affordable and to build the resiliency of our local food systems.

There will also be many opportunities for you to ask questions of the speakers.

Questions?

847-507-5989/nathan@libertyprairie.org