The Answer to the Farmer’s Cash Poor/Land Rich Dilemma?

Last night in class I asked about the difference between conservation easements and the purchase of development rights (“PDR”). While I wasn’t as familiar with conservation easements I was somewhat familiar with PDRs. I attempted to stumble my way through an explanation of PDRs as this “goofy” sort of conservation tool. Well I did a little research to see what I could come up with and I found two web sites of interest. (1) The Tennessee Land Trust is a group located in Nashville that manages and on occasion purchases conservation easements in Tennessee. As I read a little more I discovered that conservation easements sound a lot like PDRs. (2) I looked up PDR’s and I found this web site from Ohio State University that discusses PDR’s and conservation easements and told me that they are essentially the same things.

Here is how they work…

In an effort to preserve natural and historic landscapes for future generations and to allow current farmers to continue farming and resist the urge to sell farms to developers seeking to capitalize on the expanding urban fringe some states have established land trusts. Land trusts may come in the form of government affiliated organizations or, as in the case of Tennessee, 501(c)(3) organizations. Land trusts manage and acquire conservation easements or they purchase development rights from families, individuals or organizations. The land trust will acquire these properties in one of two ways. First, donation of development rights by the land owner to the trust which results in a substantial tax break for the land owner and makes him fell good while managing to sufficiently anger his money hungry children. The second way is for the land trust to purcahse the development rights. This is slightly more complicated because it requires determining the value of the land to produce agriculture or timber and the value of the land at market to a developer. Suppose the land has a value in agriculture of $2,000 per acre but that a developer is offering the owner $5,000 per acre to acquire the land for development. The Land trust would pay $3,000 dollars per acre to the owner for a restriction on the deed that restricts the uses of the land in perpetuity. The farmer continues to own the land and can keep farming it or pass it on to his heirs but neither he nor any subsequent purchaser or owner can ever develop it. Typically these restrictions contain some form of allowance for structures related to the use such as a house or a barn or may have some clause that states that only 10% of the land may be developed.

In many ways this is similar to landowners in Texas selling the mineral rights below the surface of their cattle farms to oil and gas speculators. The land trust owns the development rights regardless of whether it is a farm, natural area, or historic site and owes a moral and legal obligation to enforce the deed restrictions in perpetuity.

After class Charlie asked me what Char Miller would say about the subsidizing of these farmers?




Regardless land trusts are used for all kinds of non urban land uses but one thing that I keep thinking of and Kevin mentioned in class, is that while they claim to be protecting open space but the land that is protected remain in private ownership and trespass laws still apply. The one thing they do successfully is to protect view sheds from development which is particularly important in middle and east TN’s rolling hills.

~TP