Conservation Easement Sessions: Protecting Farmland and Addressing Land Tenure

Across two sessions in February and March, metro producers and land owners gathered at the Anita B. Gorman Discovery Center to learning about Conservation Easements. These sessions, Conservation Easements 101 and 201, gave attendees insight into the concept of conservation easements and how they can be used as a powerful tool for long term farmland protection.

These events were part of a Farm Succession and Transition Planning series co-sponsored by Cultivate KC and KC F.A.R.M.E.R.S. Coalition. Experts from The Conservation Fund and Platte Land Trust led both sessions to provide expertise on agricultural easements, including how they work, the process for creating an easement, how they are monitored, and how they affect long term land access for farmland in the metro.

Around 25 people attended each session, with the 101 session being a more general overview of easements, and the 201 session diving deeper into how to get started with an easement for land owners who were interested, as well as pitfalls, obstacles, and other things to keep in mind when considering an easement.

As a part of the 201 session, we organized a panel discussion to discuss the how the concept of easements from several different angles, and to generally discuss land access with a panel of experts. The panelists included representatives from the Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas Unified Government Planning Department, a realtor who specializes in small scale farmstead and homesteads, and a landowner who has completed the easement process over the last several years.

The sessions were the first steps in a series of planned events focused on ways to protect the remaining farmland in the KC metro, as well as help beginning farmers access land for the purposes of growing their farm businesses. Stay tuned for future topics focused on beginning farmers and land seekers and pro tips for land owners who would like to offer their land for use in farming and ranching.