Keep conservation incentives in the Farm Bill

RELEASE: April 18, 2008 – Volume XL, No. 16

You may have heard of the federal “Farm Bill” - national legislation that gets debated and renewed every few years in Congress. Right up there with defense and transportation, it funds our nation’s farm subsidies and sets our food policy. It also has programs that promote soil and land conservation.

The Farm Bill currently up for renewal includes expanded federal tax breaks for landowners who donate conservation easements to preserve their property. It is critical that the Farm Bill ultimately signed into law by President Bush makes these incentives permanent.

A conservation easement is a legally-binding agreement between a landowner and a government agency or qualified non-profit organization, which permanently restricts the land’s development potential. For conservation-minded landowners, the tax breaks provide an enticement to donate conservation easements, or sell them at a bargain price below market value.

The enhanced tax incentives allow landowners to deduct easement donation values equivalent to 50 percent of their income, a 20 percent increase over the previous amount. Qualifying farmers could deduct donation values up to 100 percent of their income!

These new limits, which were put into place on a temporary basis in 2006, enabled family farmers and other moderate-income landowners to reap significant tax benefits while keeping their property undeveloped and permanently preserved.

The incentives expired at the end of 2007, but the current Farm Bill would make them permanent. A majority of New Jersey’s congressional delegation – seven of 13 representatives – are supporting the incentives. President Bush has also endorsed them in his proposed 2008 and 2009 budgets.

Why are these incentives important for the Garden State? And why the push for permanence?

Conservation easements stretch public and private preservation dollars. For New Jersey farmers who want to continue farming, conservation easements are a way to keep their land in agriculture. In states like New Jersey with high property values, easements are also an important tool in the race to preserve open space. Easement donations preserve up to a million acres per year nationally! Making these incentives permanent will increase the amount of land preserved by donations.

Here’s what you can do to help make the tax incentives permanent: Contact Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey’s 6th District, who has not yet weighed in on these incentives. Congressman Pallone’s vote will be critical.

Call Congressman Pallone at (888) 423-1140 and ask for his help in ensuring the permanent conservation easement tax incentive is included in the final Farm Bill. It’s important for New Jersey farmers, and for our state’s open space preservation efforts!

For more information on this issue, please visit www.lta.org/publicpolicy/adv_040808.htm. I hope you’ll contact me at info@njconservation.org, or visit NJCF’s website at www.njconservation.org, for more information about conserving New Jersey’s precious land and natural resources.

Return to SWI Columns