Farmland preservation can:

• Provide landowners with capital that they can use to expand their existing operation or meet other financial goals;

• Help landowners reduce their debt load;

• Further their estate or retirement planning, e.g., by allowing them to leave the land to an heir who is interested in farming and a monetary inheritance to other heirs;

• Allow landowners to apply for up to 50 percent State cost-sharing grants for eligible soil and water conservation projects on their farm, subject to available funding;

• Help landowners protect their land from government acquisition through eminent domain, or emergency restrictions on the use of water and energy supplies;

• Provide landowners with the personal satisfaction of knowing your farm will be preserved in perpetuity.

Farmland preservation can:

• Help stop unwanted development and avoid the costs of sprawl. In New Jersey and across the nation, studies show that residential development costs municipalities more in educational and public services than it generates in additional tax revenue. In the long term, municipal investment in preserving farmland is usually less costly than allowing development.

•Help maintain rural beauty and local food security.

The farmland preservation process typically begins when a landowner submits a completed Application to the County for review. In some cases, applications can also be made through a nonprofit, municipality, or directly to the state. The application is then reviewed by the County and its funding partners to ensure it meets the program requirements. Most projects are completed with assistance from the State Agriculture Development Committee (SADC), in which case the SADC will issue a “Green Light” approval, allowing the County to appraise the property. After two independent appraisals are completed, reports are sent to the SADC for review and issuance of a “Certified Market Value” (CMV). An offer based on the CMV is then made to the landowner. If the landowner accepts the offer then the parties enter into a formal purchase agreement. A survey and title work is then ordered, which is then subject to legal review and final approval by the County and funding partners, before concluding the process with a real estate closing.

The value of a farm or development easement is established through two independent appraisals. The price a landowner will be paid for a development easement will be based on the difference between their land’s value before preservation and its value after preservation. This is generally the difference between what someone would pay for the raw land as is, and its value as a deed-restricted farm. For example, if a farm would be worth $10,000 per acre before preservation, and $4,000 per acre after it has been preserved, the value of the development easement would be $6,000 per acre.

When a farm is preserved, a Deed of Easement will be recorded with the County Clerk’s office that will run with the land and forever protect it for agricultural use. Landowners are allowed to erect barns and other agricultural structures in accordance with the Deed of Easement. However, most nonagricultural uses are not permitted unless they were recognized in the Deed of Easement at the time of preservation.

Within one year of preserving a farm, the landowner must obtain a farm conservation plan approved by the local soil conservation district. The plan, which will be developed in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, will detail practices that will assist the landowner in managing soil, water and other natural resources on their farm.

The preservation of a farm does not make that land public property. The public has no right to access or use a preserved farm without the landowner’s consent.

It depends. There can be many reasons why a particular farm is not preserved, including:

• Some farms may be in areas which the state or municipalities have designated for future development. For example, the state or municipalities may not wish to see farms preserved which are located within a “Highlands Center”.

• Some farms may not meet the state’s minimum criteria for preservation. To receive state funding towards the costs of preserving a farm, the property must be located within the County’s Agriculture Development Area (ADA), be eligible for farmland assessment, and at least 50% of the land or a minimum of 25 acres, whichever is less, is tillable and consists of soils that can support agricultural or horticultural production (for farms over 10 acres in size).

• Not all farms have sufficient development rights to sell. For example, a farm with limited access via a narrow driveway easement may not be developable. A 20 acre farm in a residential zoning district with a 20-acre minimum lot size may not be developable. A farm which is entirely ag-modified wetlands may not be developable.

• Farmland preservation is strictly voluntary. Farms will only be preserved if the landowner is willing to voluntarily sell the development rights to their farm. Some landowners are unwilling to do so.  

As of September 2023, Warren County has preserved 335 farms totaling 29,169 acres. Out of the New Jersey’s 21 counties, Warren County ranks third in the total number of farms preserved and fourth in the total acres of farmland preserved. The County continues to aggressively pursue additional farmland preservation projects through regular landowner outreach.