Owners of three farms have signed deals with the state, totaling nearly $9 million, to restrict future residential and commercial development, Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson announced Monday.
The deals involve the state purchasing conservation easements, which allow landowners to continue using their land for such things as farming while agreeing not to develop the property.
The purchases, made through the state’s Rural and Family Lands Protection Program, are for easements on the 707-acre K-Rocker Ranch in Polk County, at a cost of $3.2 million; the 998-acre Los Niños Farm in Putnam County, at a cost of $1.798 million; and the 525-acre Kuder Ranch in Polk County, at a cost of $3.9 million.
Read: Anonymity Denied In Florida Immigration Law Challenge
“With the preservation of these three ranches and their over 2,200 acres of productive agricultural land, in addition to the more than 36,000 acres we’ve permanently preserved in the last year, we are working to protect Florida’s valuable agricultural lands as efficiently and effectively as possible – and before it’s too late,” Simpson said in a prepared statement.