Florida officials have approved the permanent protection of more than 4,500 acres of working agricultural land across four counties, pushing the state’s Rural and Family Lands Protection Program past a cumulative 250,000 preserved acres.
The approvals came from Governor Ron DeSantis and the Florida Cabinet, who act jointly as the Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund. Through rural lands protection easements, the state buys the development rights to private farms, ranches, and timber operations. The agreements block future residential or commercial building while allowing landowners to keep their agricultural businesses running and on local property tax rolls.
“The Rural and Family Lands Protection Program gives us the most effective and cost-efficient way to preserve our natural lands while also supporting our farmers and ranchers,” Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson said in a release. “By permanently protecting working agricultural lands while keeping them in private ownership, we’re protecting Florida’s food supply and our rural way of life without taking the land off the tax rolls or creating new costs for the state. This is what smart conservation looks like, and it’s why this program is the best tool we have to protect Florida’s agricultural lands. I’m grateful to Governor DeSantis and my fellow members of the Florida Cabinet for continuing to support this mission.”…