FAQs

An agricultural conservation easement is a voluntary legal agreement between you and CT Farmland Trust that keeps your farmland available for farming — forever.

• It protects the land from being converted to non-agricultural uses, and permits those uses that are not incompatible with agricultural or forestry uses, while allowing you to keep ownership.
• You can still sell it, lease it, or pass it on to the next generation. Public access is not required.
• Every easement is customized, based upon overall conservation objectives. This means that we work with you to clarify your goals so you can keep farming as you do now — and adapt over time — while knowing your soils, fields, and farm legacy will be there for the future. 

They’re essentially the same thing. In Massachusetts, the legal term is “Conservation Restriction.”

In Connecticut and most other states, it’s called a “Conservation Easement.” Both describe a voluntary legal agreement that permanently protects land while allowing the owner to retain ownership and use the property in ways that are consistent with conservation goals. 

Yes. There are a lot of things you can continue to do with your land once it is protected. The specifics are outlined in your customized conservation easement, but generally speaking, agricultural easements allow for: 

• Agricultural structures in areas that don’t have sensitive soils or conditions like wetlands. 
  Construction of farmworker housing and/or one or two farmhouses depending on the property.
• Continuation of farming and adaptation of operations to future needs.
• Home-based businesses that are not incompatible with the farming operation. 
• Sustainable forestry management.
• Hunting and other traditional rural uses, such as fishing, hiking, and horseback riding. 

Many landowners and farmers care deeply about their land. Protecting your land can:

• Ensure it will not be used for incompatible or non-agricultural uses. 
• Provide peace of mind to you and your family that the land will be conserved, even if it is sold or given away.
• If you sell an agricultural conservation easement (if there is available funding)  it can provide capital to improve or diversify your farm, pay down debt, buy more land, or help with retirement. 
• Support succession planning so the farm stays in production for future generations. 
  Offer potential income tax benefits if you donate all or part of the conservation easement’s value.
• Reduce your estate’s taxable value, which can help your heirs. 

There may be federal charitable income tax deductions for donating all or part of an easement’s value. In addition, some landowners find it helpful to reduce estate taxes. We can provide you with additional information if this of interest to you.

You do. You’ll still: 

• Decide how the farm is run pursuant to the overall goals of your conservation agreement. 
• Keep the fields open for agriculture, even if you’re not farming. 
• Pay property taxes (you will likely still qualify for Public Act 490). 
• Once a year, CT Farmland Trust will walk the land with you, see how things are going, and answer questions. It’s a chance to make sure the conservation goals you set are being met — and to offer support if you need it. 

The easement stays with the land forever and the next owner must follow its terms. This is one of the benefits of conserving your land. Conservation easements are written in a flexible manner to allow farming to evolve and ensure future owners respect the agricultural purposes outlined for the property.

If you want to sell or lease, you can connect with interested farmers through CTFarmLink.org. 

Leasing your land means that the farmer working the land will also follow the conservation goals and terms of your easement. 

Call us at 860-247-0202 to talk about your goals, confidentially, with no pressure and no obligation. You can also email ____ and ___. 

• Meet with our team to walk the property and explore options.
• After we clarify your goals, we will draft a conservation easement that reflects our conservation approach and your goals. You would then review a draft easement based on your goals, and when you are ready, ask an attorney experienced in conservation easements to read it on your behalf.  
• Confirm if you need a survey update and/or easement appraisal.
• Finalize the easement and baseline documentation — we document the land’s current condition with descriptions and photos, and you review and sign off.
• We then get together to sign the documents and celebrate the conservation of your farm.  

Generally, you will need a boundary survey if there isn’t one. We would work to clarify costs. If the easement is being purchased with public funding a survey is usually required; in this case, there is usually funding available for the survey. If it is a donated easement, the survey cost may be considered a tax-deductible expense.   

If you are donating your conservation easement and plan to pursue a charitable tax deduction, you will need to obtain an appraisal by someone experienced in conservation easements and farmland. For purchased easements, we typically arrange and cover the cost. For donated easements, you may need to cover some or all expenses.

Purchased easements often take 18–24 months; donated easements may be completed in a shorter period depending on complexity, if you need a survey or not, and what other projects we have in the works.