Farmland Preservation Program
The Kentucky General Assembly in 1994 established the Purchase of Agricultural Conservation Easement Corporation and authorized the state to purchase agricultural conservation easements in order to ensure that lands currently in agricultural use will continue to remain available for agriculture and not be converted to other uses.
Although PACE was established to purchase conservation easements, landowners also are encouraged to donate easements in order to dedicate their land to agricultural uses.
Donors of conservation easements may receive federal and state income tax and estate tax benefits.
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The PACE Corporation has purchased agricultural conservation easements on 88 farms totaling 20,927 acres for $17,873,444. The easement costs have averaged $854 per acre. The farm size has averaged 238 acres. In addition, 34 easements on 4,638 acres have been donated to the program, bringing the total inventory to 122 farms containing 25,565 acres.
Since the inception of the program, the Department has received 816 applications from 75 counties statewide totaling over 160,000 acres.
A total of 667 applications are currently pending for a total of over 129,000 acres with an estimated easement value of over $100 million.
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Applications are ranked on January 1st and July 1st of each year. To be considered for the January ranking, applications must be postmarked by September 30th. A postmark date of March 31st is required for the July 1st ranking.
