LEXINGTON, Ky. – The USDA is encouraging Kentucky landowners and organizations interested in preserving farmland to explore conservation easements as a long-term protection strategy. The deadline to apply is March 31 for the second round of fiscal year 2026 funding.

According to Kentucky’s USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), financial assistance is now available through its Agricultural Conservation Easement Program-Agricultural Land Easements (ACEP-ALE), which supports efforts to safeguard productive cropland and grassland on working farms and ranches.

Officials said ACEP-ALE partners with eligible entities such as state and local governments, land trusts, and tribal organizations to secure conservation easements on privately-owned agricultural property. By providing funding to these partners, NRCS helps ensure that farmland remains in agricultural use, particularly in regions facing increasing development pressure.

Justin Pius, state public affairs director for the USDA’s NRCS Kentucky state office, told Farm World ACEP-ALE safeguards the nation’s food supply by preventing productive farmland from being converted to non-agricultural uses.

“The main advantages of easements are keeping agricultural land in family hands, removing marginal cropland from production, providing income, protecting the nation’s best agricultural soils or grasslands, and preserving wildlife habitat, including threatened and endangered species,” he said.

He said one of NRCS Chief Aubrey Bettencourt’s priorities is preserving and protecting agricultural land, “and ACEP Agricultural Land Easements are a key part of that effort. NRCS recognizes that the U.S. is losing prime farmland each day, and NRCS uses programs like ACEP-ALE, as well as regenerative practices and whole-farm planning, to provide comprehensive support to farmers.”

He said lands protected through ACEP-ALE provide public benefits, such as improved environmental quality, historic preservation, wildlife habitat and open space protection: “Eligible farmers include those who own privately held land, this includes land owned by tribes and tribal members.” The program also protects grazing uses and related conservation values by conserving grasslands, including rangelands, pasturelands and shrublands.

Officials said applications for ACEP-ALE that meet eligibility and ranking criteria and that are received by March 31 will be considered for the second round of fiscal year 2026 funding. Because landowners do not apply directly to NRCS for program funding, they must work with an approved entity (i.e, state and local governments, land trusts and tribal organizations) that submits the application on their behalf, officials added.

Applications received after these ranking dates will be automatically deferred to the next funding period: “If farmers are interested in easements, they should contact the NRCS at their local USDA Service Center,” Pius said.

Farmers can also visit www.nrcs.usda.gov under Agricultural Conservation Easement Program for more information.