USDA announces $3.8M for farmland protection in Rhode Island

WARWICK – The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced a $3.8 million grant for an ongoing program that preserves Rhode Island working farms.
The money heads to the Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program administered by the agency’s Natural Resources Conservation Service. The program assists nonprofits along with local, state and tribal governments in purchasing conservation easements to protect agricultural land and operations.
The USDA will pay up to half the price of an easement with the partnering entity required to put up the remainder.
“This program can help communities preserve farm or ranch land and cultural resources,” said Pooh Vongkhamdy, a state conservationist with the USDA, in a news release on Dec. 15.
“It’s an excellent way to keep prime farmland in agriculture and, at the same time, keep farming and ranching communities thriving by relieving development pressures.”
The agency said the program has enrolled about 3,000 acres of Rhode Island’s farmland since its inception in 1996. Last year Rhode Island received $7.6 million, enough to enroll nearly 133 acres on four properties.
The program has a continuous, year-round sign-up, but the USDA set a Feb. 14, 2011, deadline for evaluating applications for this year’s money. Project selections are expected to be announced by March 1.