100 Easements, One Record Budget: Inside North Carolina's Farmland Preservation Milestone

Officials from NCDA&CS, USDA-NRCS, the Johnston Soil and Water Conservation District, and Johnston County government gathered with the Youngblood and Langston families at the Johnston County Agricultural Services Building in Smithfield to mark the recording of the partnership's 100th easement. The tract itself — more than 76 acres on Swift Creek Road, held in trust by Ken Langston — is now permanently restricted from non-agricultural development.

According to NCDA&CS officials at the ceremony, the partnership's arc from a single 76-acre Durham County farm in 2009 to 16,554 acres across 32 counties reflects steady, county-by-county participation rather than a handful of large acquisitions.

North Carolina Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler: "This milestone reflects what can be accomplished when state and federal partners have a shared goal to protect farmland."

USDA-NRCS South Region assistant chief Ken White: "A big mission of ours at NRCS is to keep working lands in working hands."

The 2026-27 state budget directs $46.9 million in non-recurring funding plus $2 million in new recurring funding to the ADFPTF. Non-recurring means one-time: unless a future legislature repeats it, the program's baseline remains the recurring appropriation, now $9.5 million a year. That distinction matters for landowners planning around application cycles — a one-time surge expands near-term capacity to fund easement purchases, but it is not a permanent change to the program's annual budget.

The timing sits against a federal backdrop. The 2018 Farm Bill, still the operative law, is set to expire September 30, 2026, which has pushed state-level conservation funding into sharper focus. Meanwhile, the House's 2026 Farm Bill reauthorization, H.R. 7567, proposes reforms to the federal Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP) — the same federal channel NRCS uses to co-fund North Carolina's easements. Whatever Congress settles on for ACEP will shape how far state dollars stretch, since the NC partnership works by pairing the two.

An agricultural conservation easement is a permanent legal restriction recorded against the deed. The landowner keeps title and continues farming; what is given up is the right to develop the land for non-agricultural use. In exchange, the landowner typically receives compensation for the value of those surrendered development rights — in North Carolina's case, direct state and federal payment through the ADFPTF/NRCS partnership — and may qualify for income and estate tax benefits.

The trade-off is real and worth stating plainly. Because the restriction runs with the land in perpetuity, future resale value tied to development potential is permanently reduced; a buyer looking at the parcel as a subdivision or commercial site is no longer in the market. For an owner whose intent is to keep the ground in agriculture across generations, that is the point. For an owner who may later want maximum flexibility — or maximum sale price from a development-driven buyer — it is a permanent constraint. Landowners generally consult a tax professional and an attorney before enrolling.

Easement enrollment is one option among several, and it is not a fast one. Applications move through ranking cycles, appraisal, title work, and federal co-funding approval — a process measured in months, sometimes longer, and one that does not guarantee selection.

For landowners who want to keep their land unrestricted, or who need liquidity sooner than that timeline allows, a direct cash sale remains the fastest route to closing. Neither choice is inherently better. They answer different questions: an easement answers "how do I keep this in farming permanently and get paid for the development rights," while a sale answers "how do I convert this asset to cash on a defined timeline." Owners in North Carolina weighing the second question can read our guide to selling NC land by owner.